South Africa - Mulaudzi wins

25 February 2006 - Mbulaeni Mulaudzi, world indoor and Commonwealth 800m champion, showed his readiness to defend his titles in Moscow and Melbourne next month when he recorded a comfortable win at the fifth ASA Champions meeting at Oudtshoorn on Saturday afternoon.
His winning time of 1min 46.77sec, without really exerting himself, was the fastest of the year in South Africa.

“I am pleased with my performance and really looking forward to the forthcoming international races,” he said after his event that took place in scorching heat. He will also run in Pretoria next Friday before travelling to Russia for his indoor title defence.

Other members of the Commonwealth team also showed fine form. Hardus Pienaar won the javelin with an impressive distance of 82.56m while Ruben Ramolefi, the national 3000m steeplechase champion, ran a brilliant race in the extreme heat in a good time of 8min 33.51secs.

SA champions, Sherwin Vries (10.46sec) and Leigh Julius (20.97) won the 100 and 200 metres events while the 35-year-old Adri Schoeman clocked a good 52.14secs to win the 400 metres, running away from her opponents.

Geraldine Pillay managed easy wins in the women’s sprints.

High jumper, Jacques Freitag who was hoping to show up the national selectors for leaving him out of the SA Commonwealth Games team, failed to do so when he could not clear the bar at 2.25 metres.

His winning height was 2.20m and it was clear that he had not fully recovered from an injury suffered recently in a motor accident. He set his current national record of 2.38m at the same venue a year ago.

OUDTSHOORN ATHLETICS RESULTS

Results of the ASA Championships athletics meeting on Saturday

Men
100m 1 Sherwin Vries LibN 10.46, 2 Leigh Julius MrP-NMMU 10.53, 3 Lee-Roy Newton Fast Feet 10.58, 4 Corne du Plessis AbsaUJ 10.69. 200m 1 Julius 20.98, 2 Sergio Mullins BDMS 21.03, 3 Corne du Plessis 21.27, 4 Newton 21.41.

400m 1 Jan van der Merwe Kovsies 46.19, 2 Nathan van Wyk Bell. 46.63, 3 Alvin Samuels FastF 46.97, 4 Nico Oosthuizen 47.23. 800m 1 Mbulaeni Mulaudzi MrP 1:46.77, 2 Werner Botha MrP 1:47.89, 3 Charles Jantjies Paarl 1:48.72, 4 Sydney Mafologela Maties 1:50.90.

3000m Steeplechase 1 Rubem Ramolefi LibNike 8:33.51, 2 Emmanuel Mkhabela Transwerk. 8:43.27, 3 Adam Bowden GBR 9:06.61, 4 Zolile Bhitane Harmony 9:12.41.

High Jump 1 Jacques Freitag Tuks 2.20, 2 Zieg Veenemans Tuks 2.15, 3 Bevan Hendon Maties 2.05, 3 Willem Voigt Oakdale1.95. Long Jump 1 Keenan Watson Paarl 7.79, 2 Ethan Alexander MrP-NMMU 7.62, 3 Regan Julius Paarl 6.91.

Javelin 1 Hardus Pienaar MrP 82.56, 2 Brian Erasmus LibN 75.10, 3 Raldu Potgieter LibN 64.96, 4 Ryan Olivier Oakdale 57.35

Women
100m 1 Geraldine Pillay LibN 11.87, 2 Cindy Stewart MrP-NMMU 12.22, 3 Minette Albertse Kovsies 12.46, 4 Tasquane Hufkie MrP-NMMU 12.48.

200m 1 Pillay 23.69, 2 Stewart 24.61, 3 Isabel le Roux Tuks 24.61

400m 1 Adri Schoeman LibN 52.14, 2 Kerryn Hulsen FastF 55.03, 3 Elmie Hugo 55.28, 4 Benje Swart TNLK 55.78.