Irvette might just break SA marathon record in London
Irvette van Zyl (Nedbank) might be able to set a new South African
marathon record at the London Marathon (24 April).
The women‟s marathon record of 2:26:35, set by Colleen de Reuck in
Berlin on 29 September 1996, has been on the record books for nearly
20 years.
Van Zyl‟s performances over the past two weekends are the reason why
Lindsey Parry (head coach at Tuks/HPC) feels that a new national
record could be on the cards. On Sunday (31/01) Van Zyl won the
Johnson Crane 21km in Benoni in a time of 1 hour 12 minutes and 20
seconds. Parry is not quite sure, but he thinks it might be the fastest time
ever by a South African female athlete at altitude.
Last week she won the George Claassen 10km in a time of 33 minutes
and 32 seconds, also a personal best for her at altitude.
An interesting question now is how much faster can Van Zyl run?
Parry‟s immediate answer is that she hasn‟t even begun to run at her full
potential.
“Quite frankly, the times Irvette has been running do not surprise me.
She is adamant that she kept holding herself back on Sunday (31/01)
because she was afraid that I might get cross with her if she ran too fast.
She believes that she could have run a much faster time.
“Having watched her run during training sessions I tend to agree. I don‟t
think we are even close to getting her to run to the best of her ability at
this stage.
“The problem in the past was that Irvette tends to be very injury prone. I
think she was handicapped by the fact that she was not always
managed correctly.”
Van Zyl, who is also a HPC-sponsored athlete, may have to compete in
the SA Marathon Championships in East London. Parry does not
foresee this to be problem.
“The plan was for Irvette to do a three-hour training run a month before
the London Marathon. We will just adapt our training schedule slightly so
that she will now „jog‟ the SA Marathon instead. I want her to finish it in
about 3 hours. If she can stick to the plan and there are no other
unforeseen setbacks, I am confident that she will be able to run
something like 2:26 in London.”
Parry is not yet certain about how and when Van Zyl will try to qualify for
the 10 000 metres in the Olympic Games in Rio. He hopes to discuss it
with the decision-makers of Athletics South Africa (ASA) next week.
Charné Bosman (Nedbank) won the Johnson Crane Marathon in
2:48:52.
Parry, who coaches Bosman as well, considers the win as a bonus.
“Our whole idea was to see how Charné’s legs would handle the
pressure of being pushed slightly harder than during a training run. I
am satisfied.
“Charné main goal is to get a good result at the Two Oceans.
Afterwards I am going to give her a short rest before she starts her
preparation for the Comrades in earnest.”
Bosman was second in last year’s Comrades.