Last night i received the terrible news that Zithulele Sinqe passed away in a car accident.
Zithulele was an icon in South African athletics, being one of the best runners in the 80's all the way through until he retired from running in 2001. He was currently very successful in development in South Africa and was also a co-commentator with me on TV
He was very unfortunate not to be able to compete internationally due to apartheid and in 1986 ran 2:08:04 in South Africa and in 1987 ran 60:11 for the half, a then world record but not ratified due to South Africa not being recognised. He also won the 1996 and 1997 Two Oceans Marathon, finishing 2nd in 1998 and also finished 4th in the 1997 Comrades Marathon
RIP ZET
South African icon passes away
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The shadows have hid mountains of talent.
RIP ZET -
That 60:11 half was one of the greatest races I have ever seen. He battled another legend the whole. Matthews Temane had one of the best kicks I've ever seen and won it on the line. They both clocked 60:11. A sad day.
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That's such a shame. Thanks for passing along. RIP ZET
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*sigh* that's sad news, made only marginally less sad that at least he had his career behind him. We also lost Ian Syster in a crash, but before we got to see how far he could go.
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Man, that sucks. RIP.
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When he ran that 60:11 in south Africa most people outside of south Africa dismissed it as a short or downhill course but measurement was found to be accurate
It was so much faster than anyone else in the world was running at the time, but little did they know 20 years down the road that the 1 hour would be the benchmark to be considered a world class half marathoner
He remained dedicated to athletics his whole life and it is a sad day that another person is killed on south Africa's roads