Simon Makgakwe new sprint king at Yellow Pages SA Senior Championships
Simon Magakwe came to the Yellow Pages SA Senior Championships in Stellenbosch as a virtual unknown in sprinting circles but walked away today as the new sprint king of the country.
The 22-year old Central Northwest athlete not only won the 100 metres in convincing manner in an IAAF A standard qualifying time of 10, 21 secs but had to prove himself twice in the short sprint before the gold medal was hung around his neck.
Makgakwe thought that he had won the gold medal when he crossed the line in a career best time of 10, 32 secs only to learn that, because of a false start by one of the athletes that the race was going to be re-run.
This did not deter him and he proved his superiority over the field when he blitzed to his winning time of 10, 21 secs in the re-run beating Thuso Mpuang (Free State) into second place. Mpuang's time equaled the B qualifying standard. Free State's promising young runner, Kagiso Kumbane came home third in 10, 32 secs.
Magakwe came through the Yellow Pages Series this year with some solid performances as a build-up to the Championships.
A short while later Mpuang reversed the tables when he won the 200 metres in a B qualifying time of 20, 66 secs edging out Magakwe (20, 90 secs).
