Thursday, 15 September 2011 12:33
No free-wheeling for Lange
South African cycling legend, Malcolm Lange, is hanging up his bicycle. Well, at least for one morning...
This well-known icon of South African cycling will be taking on the challenge of the tar in the Bonitas City2City Marathon this weekend (Sunday, 18 September). While he’s leaving the 50km ultra-marathon distance to the more seasoned road runners, Lange will nonetheless be lining up at the start of the 10km road race, one of the three legs of the prestigious Gauteng race being run this Sunday, 18 September.
Now a pro-cycling team owner, Lange has racked up over 400 major race victories in his 17-year career. In fact, there’s virtually no top local race he hasn’t won. Truly one of South Africa’s all-time cycling greats, the last place you’d expect to find him is jostling for position with a pack of road runners.
So what’s up? Is his bicycle in for repairs? “I’ve actually had my arm twisted!” he says. “Bonitas Medical Fund, which sponsors the City2City Marathon, is also the sponsor of my pro-cycling team, Team Bonitas. They’ve been a great sponsor, so I’m doing it for them.”
A former winner of the Cape Argus Pick n Pay Cycle Tour and the Pick n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge, Lange would normally make short shrift of ten kilometers. “I can do that distance in around 12 minutes on my bike, but I think it’ll take me a little longer to run,” he laughs. “The last time I ran was probably in high school. On Sunday there’ll be no free-wheeling!”
Only nine athletes in South Africa have ever been able to break the 28-minute record for the 10km distance. The current national record was set back in 1999 by Hendrick Ramaala, who tore through the distance in a mere 27:29.94.
Might this cycling star be up for a record-breaking challenge on Sunday? “I’ll be happy just to finish,” he says. “I have an incentive – I must be back by lunch-time to watch Team Bonitas riding the 100km Zoo Lake Criterium that afternoon.”
There you have it then. For all those cyclists who’ve dreamed of crossing a finish line before Malcolm Lange, now’s your chance (although you’ll have to do it without your bicycle). Online entries for all legs of the Bonitas City2City Marathon have already closed, but you can still enter the 10km from 5am on the morning of the race, Sunday, 18 September, at the James and Ethel Gray Park in Melrose.
The 10km City2City race then heads off from Wanderers Planet Fitness at 7am and finishes at the James and Ethel Gray Park.
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