{"id":250615,"date":"2023-02-21T09:03:32","date_gmt":"2023-02-21T07:03:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?p=128699"},"modified":"2023-02-21T09:03:32","modified_gmt":"2023-02-21T07:03:32","slug":"nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever\/","title":{"rendered":"Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km elite field strongest ever"},"content":{"rendered":"<aside class=\"scaip scaip-1 \">\n<aside id=\"republication_tracker_tool-2\" class=\"republication_tracker_tool clearfix\">\n<h5 class=\"adtitle\">Republish for Free<\/h5>\n<div class=\"license\">\n<p><button name=\"Republish This Story\" id=\"cc-btn\" class=\"republication-tracker-tool-button\">Republish This Story<\/button><\/p>\n<p><a class=\"license\" rel=\"noreferrer license noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by-nd\/4.0\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" class=\"lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever.png\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" alt=\"Creative Commons License\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever.png\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"message\">\n<p>Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/aside>\n<\/aside>\n<p>With the final countdown to race weekend, the elite field gathered for the 3 rd running of the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km set for 26 February 2023 is looking the strongest it has ever been, with a bigger international contingent coming out for this year\u2019s event.<\/p>\n<p>In its first edition back in 2021, the event saw two world records being broken with new men\u2019s and women\u2019s records set, followed up by the men\u2019s world record being smashed last year and thewomen\u2019s world record surviving a very narrow scare. This year\u2019s field features a mix of ultra-marathon and marathon specialists with an exciting number of debut ultra-marathoners taking part. If you thought that a runner making their debut can be discounted, think again as both men\u2019s world records were set by athletes making their ultra-marathon debuts.<\/p>\n<p>Spearheading the field based off ultra-marathon ability is Ethiopia\u2019s Endale Belachew who runs in the colours of Maxed Elite. With a 2:11 marathon best, Belachew ran last year\u2019s Two Oceans Marathon taking victory easily. This year Belachew has earmarked the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km over Two Oceans as he wants to be a World record holder. \u201cMy training has been going very well in the camp and I am looking forward to an exciting and fast race,\u201d said Belachew.<\/p>\n<p>Accompanying him from Ethiopia is a very strong Nedbank running club contingent. Daba Ifa Debele and Gadisa Bekele Gutama ran a 1-2 finish in last year\u2019s Soweto Marathon and will be making their ultra-debuts next weekend.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the South African charge in the colours of Nedbank running club will be ultra-marathon superstars Tete Dijana and Edward Mothibi. The pair have emerged victorious in the last two editions of the Comrades Marathon and Dijana and Motihibi stood aloft the podium in last year\u2019s Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km finishing in 2 nd and 3 rd . \u201cWe have been in the very same camp we were for Comrades training specifically for this event and we are ready for action,\u201d said Dijana from the camp that is led under the watchful eyes of coach Dave Adams.<\/p>\n<p>Former Two Oceans Marathon winner and Lesotho National marathon record holder Motlokoa Nkhabutlane also features on the start list and will be one to look out for. Ensuring the athletes go out at a world record tempo see\u2019s local Nelson Mandela Bay hero Melikhaya Frans tasked with keeping the pace upfront. Frans is preparing for the upcoming Boston Marathon and will look to go up to 30km.<\/p>\n<p>With an exciting men\u2019s race on paper, the women\u2019s race is equally exciting with several athletes who could break Irvette van Zyl\u2019s 3:04:23 world record. Returning will be last year\u2019s champion in the colours of Nedbank running club Amelework Fikadu Bosho who narrowly missed out on a new world record when she crossed the line in 3:04:58. Joining her from last year\u2019s podium will be teammate Shelmith Muriuki who finished 2 nd in 3:08:29. The strong Kenyan athlete is a class marathon runner with international victories to her CV.<\/p>\n<p>In the colours of Nedbank running club making the trek from Europe will be Dominika Stelmach from Poland and Hannah Lindholm from Sweden. Stelmach is a familiar face in South Africa and has podiumed at the first edition of the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km and was 2 nd in last year\u2019s Comrades Marathon. Lindholm is a class marathon runner who will be making her debut over the ultras. Boasting a 2:28:59 marathon PB, the Swede is someone to look out for in the front of the field.<\/p>\n<p>Another East African athlete hailing from Kenya will be Daisy Kipsugut. The Kenyan may only boast a 2:41:46 marathon best, but she ran in last year\u2019s Soweto Marathon where she finished 4th, missing the podium. Kipsugut will once again face the 3 Nedbank running club Ethiopian ladies who were ahead of her at that race as they all make their return to the Nelson Mandela Bay.<\/p>\n<p>Leading the South African charge will be the Nedbank running club duo of Adele Broodryk and Galaletsang Mekgoe. Broodryk finished 3 rd and first South African in her debut Comrades last year whilst Mekgoe finished 7 th in last year\u2019s Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km and followed that up with an amazing 5 th place at Comrades on her debut. Kelly von Vliet in the colours of Nedbank running club will lead the local Mandela Bay hopefuls and is hoping to finish in the top 10.<\/p>\n<p>Race director Nick Bester is confident of potential new world and age group records from this year\u2019s event. \u201cThe athletes who have entered for this year\u2019s event are world class and we look forward to them competing,\u201d said Bester. \u201cI have been in contact with a number of athletes who are excited that their training has gone well such as Hannah Lindholm who is looking forward to her ultra-debut and we look forward to welcoming them to the friendly city and our event.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_128700\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-128700\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?attachment_id=128700\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"780\" height=\"439\" class=\"wp-image-128700 size-full lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-128700 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever.jpg\" alt width=\"780\" height=\"439\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-128700\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Hannah Lindholm. Photo: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<figure id=\"attachment_128701\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-128701\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/?attachment_id=128701\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" alt width=\"1000\" height=\"665\" class=\"wp-image-128701 size-full lazyload\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever-1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-128701 size-full\" src=\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever-1.jpg\" alt width=\"1000\" height=\"665\"><\/a><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-128701\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Edward Mothibi. Photo: Supplied<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p><strong>Video:<\/strong> Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km elite field strongest ever<\/p>\n<p><strong><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/Nedbank%20Runified%20Breaking%20Barriers%2050km%20elite%20field%20strongest%20ever\/2\/\">Boilerplate and Editor\u2019s Notes<\/a><\/strong>.<br \/><strong>More Info on <a target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km elite field strongest ever<\/a> here:<\/strong><br \/><strong>Twitter<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/harwoodpr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/harwoodpr<\/a><br \/><strong>Facebook<\/strong>: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/harwoodpromotions\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/harwoodpromotions\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/mypr.co.za\/save-with-myprs-monthly-flat-fee\/\">CLICK HERE to submit your press release to MyPR.co.za<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p> <span class=\"post-views-icon dashicons dashicons-chart-bar\"><\/span> <span class=\"post-views-label\">Press Release Views since 1 July 2022:<\/span> <span class=\"post-views-count\">61<\/span> <\/p>\n<div class=\"entry-pagination pagination\">Pages: <span class=\"post-page-numbers current\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>1<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever\/2\/\" class=\"post-page-numbers\"><span class=\"screen-reader-text\">Page <\/span>2<\/a><\/div>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mypr.co.za\">Source: MyPR.co.za<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Republish for Free Republish This Story Republish our articles for free, online or in print, under a Creative Commons license. With the final countdown to race weekend, the elite field gathered for the 3 rd running of the Nedbank Runified Breaking Barriers 50km set for 26 February 2023 is looking the strongest it has ever [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":250616,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[3331,18,3332,9021,3336,1],"tags":[3257],"class_list":{"0":"post-250615","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-cape-town","8":"category-durban","9":"category-johannesburg-south-africa","10":"category-mypr","11":"category-pretoria-south-africa","12":"category-south-africa","13":"tag-mypr","14":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/nedbank-runified-breaking-barriers-50km-elite-field-strongest-ever.png","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250615","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=250615"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/250615\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/250616"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=250615"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=250615"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=250615"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}