The 40th running of this challenging 21.1km race took place on Saturday 25 June 2016 from St Dominic’s Priory School in Miramar. Over 800 people competed on the day, with other’s having earned their club points at 2 Helper Runs earlier in June. Many family members took advantage of the outing and the festive atmosphere at the start/finish area.
The race gets its name from the relentless climb up Heron and Seaview Roads to the top of Buffelsfontein Road in Mount Pleasant. This climb is fondly known to runners and cyclists as “Heartbreak Hill”. In this race it is situated around the half way mark, making it a challenging obstacle when planning a race strategy.
Charlo Athletic Club is the largest locally based club in the Nelson Mandela Metro. The Heartbreak Hill Half Marathon and 5km Fun Run has been the largest attended EPA local race event over the last few years. This year, in spite of other significant events in the area was no different.
The weather was almost ideal for a record breaking pace, although previous two-time winner, Melikhaya Frans (Ikhamva Athletics Club), couldn’t quite dip under the official course record this year. His finishing time of 1 hour 7 minutes and 17 seconds was still good enough to secure him the R2000 prize money for first place. The top 5 men all finished within 3 minutes of each other, and Frans was followed by Andre Ketchem (Xcel Athletics Club) and Zolani Mabhongo (Ikhamva Athletics Club).
The ladies race was also hotly contested over this challenging course with and 1 minute and 23 seconds separated the the top 4 women. The winner was Ntombesintu Mfunzi (Nedbank Running Club) in a respectable time of 1 hour 24 minutes and 53 seconds and followed by Ndileka Mvakwendlu (Tinarha Athletics Club) in second place and Siphokazi Nojoko (Motherwell Athletics Club) in third.
Lisa Hen-Boisen, Charlo Athletic Club Captain, was pleased with the response to the event: “This was the best year for support and it ran as smooth as butter! The watering points were full of energy and hosted by Galaxy Bingo, 4Tech I.T. Solutions, Sportsmans Warehouse, the Rotary Club of PE West, Vision Mart, Dynza Sport and Elsen Academy. Charlo has again put on one of the best races of the year. We are very pleased with today.”
Charne Blume, Public Relations and Marketing Manager of Galaxy Bingo and Galaxy Grill who were naming sponsors for the race this year had this to say: “We were at the 14km water point and we saw all the people going past and doing so well up Heartbreak Hill! It was a lot of fun supporting the runners. We are very proud to be associated with this event. It is situated close to Galaxy Grill at Moffat on Main. We feel like it has really benefited the athletic community and it was very well organized. We really do hope to be associated with this event going forward, because we see the potential for growth and connecting our brand with Charlo Athletic Club’s Heartbreak Hill event and its rich history with Port Elizabeth.”
Alan Straton
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