Despite some lingering problems with her IT band, Rene Kalmer (Nedbank/adidas) won this weekend’s Lotto South African Half-Marathon Championships in 72:59, 16 seconds up on second-place finisher Zintle Xiniwe. The win is reported by Race Results Weekly to be Rene’s 31st national title. Saturday’s course unfortunately went long, as a lead vehicle driver missed a turn near the 9K mark and added about 180m to the race length. David Monti calculates that Rene’s 72:59 time for the long course would translate to about 72:20 on a correct-length course. Rene is on the South African marathon team for the Daegu World Championships.

Defending champion Irvette van Blerk (Nedbank) had to scratch with an Achilles problem, but expects to be back in action for a half-marathon in Phalaborwa on July 23rd, and a pair of 10K’s in August.