EC Classic Shootout 600m aims to break SA record

Last year Rynardt van Rensburg narrowly missed the SA record set by Andre Olivier in the 600m. Van Rensburg this year won’t be able to attend the race as he is at a high altitude training camp at that time. But EC Active athletics club athlete Ranti Dikgale who led the race for more than 500m last year is looking to take it up yet another level.

Former Irish Indoor champ Niall Tuohy who will be representing his sponsor Chia Bia will be one of two international athletes in the 600m. Struggling with a lot of injury throughout the years Tuohy has picked up considerably in the last year and will be looking to give the South Africans a go.

EC Active Athletics Club will enter 3 of their own athletes into this race, two sub 1:50 800m runners Themba Madima and Jabolane Ncamane as well as 46.32 runner on the 400m Ranti Dikgale. Another two sub 1:50 800m runners Tian Basson (1:48.78) and Pieter Conradie (1:49.57) will also be in this race. Basson won the Pukke Prestige 800m race last year and Conradie who is a former 400m runner (46.38) started doing the 800m last year.

This field also includes 3 athletes who specialise in the 400m hurdles. World Student games finalist PC Beneke who has a sub 50sec on the 400m Hurdles and boasts with a 46.83 on the 400m, Le Roux Hamman who has won Varsity cup meetings as well as a SA u/23 title and our second international athlete from Botswana Daniel Lagamang.

The two fastest 400m athletes in this field is 2015 SA u/23 champ and SA Senior silver medalist Jon Seeliger (45.85) and Olympic and World Champs finalist Willie de Beer (45.67).

All three years that this race has been hosted an 800m athlete won, will a sprinter or hurdle athlete take it this year?

This EC Classic shootout race hosted by Backtrack at the Hoerskool Waterkloof meeting is brought to you by Tomtom and KPMG.