Despite tightening her grip and emerging victorious in the women’s Hollywoodbets Durban 10km race on Sunday, Taylor Kavanagh admitted that she was furious after she was bumped and fell during the race.
Kavanagh was seen taking an ugly fall when one of the male runners stumbled upon her about 3km into the race.
The Hollywoodbets Athletics Club runner did, however, maintain her cool and surged through to the finish line with a time of 31:39, beating Naheng Khatala (32:01), who came in second, and Karabo Mailula (33:01), who finished third.
Speaking to the media at a press conference at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban, Kavanagh expressed her delight at emerging victorious and confirmed that the racer approached her to apologise after the race.
READ: Comrades boss positive of 2027 marathon success despite Athletics SA split
“My first 5 km unexpectedly went by fast, even though the fall kind of threw me off a little bit, I won’t lie, but I tried to regain momentum and kept on going as soon as I got back up,” Kavanagh declared.
“But he came to apologise, which I really appreciate because I must say, I was very furious at that time because it is something you don’t expect to happen often in road running.
“Because if you are going to fall, you’d expect it to be rather at the start and not during the race, but it is good to learn those lessons, and at least I know that if it happens again one day, I will know what to do.”
In the men’s race, it was former 800m South African champion Tshepo Tshite who emerged victorious with a time of 28:18 ahead of Kenya’s Stephen Kangethe (28:21) and Kabelo ‘Mr Podium’ Mulaudzi (28:28), who came out second and third, respectively.
“The race was good, even though I am always unlucky in the 10km races, always getting tough weather conditions, as it was very windy today, but overall, I am happy with how the race turned out,” Tshite said.
“I know that I am capable of running a sub-2,8, but the most important thing is how you run, because road and track racing are not the same. Remember, I come from the 800m and have been trying to gradually upgrade to the 10km.
“So, for now it is all about trying by all means to understand the distance, and in the future, I will go fully into the 10km.”
- Despite tightening her grip and emerging victorious in the women’s Hollywoodbets Durban 10km race on Sunday, Taylor Kavanagh admitted that she was furious after she was bumped and fell during the race.
- Kavanagh was seen taking an ugly fall when one of the male runners stumbled upon her about 3km into the race.
- The Hollywoodbets Athletics Club runner did, however, maintain her cool and surged through to the finish line with a time of 31:39, beating Naheng Khatala (32:01), who came in second, and Karabo Mailula (33:01), who finished third.
- Speaking to the media at a press conference at the Kingsmead Cricket Ground in Durban, Kavanagh expressed her delight at emerging victorious and confirmed that the racer approached her to apologise after the race.
- READ: Comrades boss positive of 2027 marathon success despite Athletics SA split “My first 5 km unexpectedly went by fast, even though the fall kind of threw me off a little bit, I won’t lie, but I tried to regain momentum and kept on going as soon as I got back up,” Kavanagh declared.
