Shange podiumed at Oceania Race Walk Champs

Posted on February 20, 2017

In a near repeat of last year, it was again Dane Bird-Smith (Australia) and South Africa’s Lebogang Shange (HPC) who took the top honours at the Oceania Race 20km Race Walk Championship in Adelaide today.

The bronze medallist at last year’s Olympic Games in Rio, Bird-Smith, won in a time of 1:19:37 with Shange second in 1:21:00 and Quentin Rew (New Zealand) third in 1:21:12. South Africa’s Wayne Snyman (HPC) finished sixth in a time of 1:21:26.
 
The Australian also won last year with Shange taking second.

Shange had sort of mixed feelings after today’s race. In light of the fact that he has been diagnosed with an iron deficiency while he was at a training camp, he considers his second place finish as not too bad. He was told by the Australian medical team who treated him not to get his hope up for a good result.

The HPC-athlete said it was a matter of pride that led to him pushing himself deep into the red.

“There is no way that I could train in Australia for two months and then come back to South Africa empty handed. The fact that I doubted my own physical abilities led to me starting the race quite conservatively. Once I realised that I am actually feeling quite OK I started to up my pace which led to me catching and passing the early race leaders.”

His disappointment sprouts from the fact that according to the official qualification standards set by the IAAF he would have qualified for the World Championships in London but according to qualification standards set by Athletics South Africa he has not done so. The South African qualification standard is 1:20:30 while the IAAF’s standard is 1:24:00. According to the IAAF qualification standards, Snyman has also qualified to represent South Africa in London.

Last year Shange set a new South African record when raced to a time of 1:20:06.

“It would have been nice to have had the qualification for the World Championships out of the way so that I can just focus on becoming a stronger and faster as I am driven by a hunger to make South Africans proud every time I race. Instead, my coach, Chris Britz, and I will now have to identify another race to try and qualify. To meet the ASA standard is going to be quite a challenge as I would have to walk near SA record pace to do so. In most international races a time of 1:20:30 will be good enough for a podium finish.

“The good thing is what I now know at least what ails me so it will make it easier for HPC to help me. Suffering from iron deficiency meant that I battled when I trained because I was constantly fatigued. It got a bit frustrating.” 

- Author Wilhelm de Swardt

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