The Eastern Cape's premier long-distance runner Lusapho April is fired up for a massive challenge as he battles it out against some of the best long-distance runners from around the world at the annual Boston Marathon in the USA on Monday.
The Boston Marathon is being run for the 122nd time this year, and it is held on the third Monday in April, on Patriots Day.
It was a big decision for Oxford Striders runner April to take part in the Boston race as it meant he would miss arguably his favourite event, the Hannover Marathon in Germany.
He has won in Hannover three times and set his fastest marathon time at that race, but with it taking place last weekend it was not possible to do both.
“Boston is part of the Abbott World Marathon Majors, the six most important marathons in the world, which also include Tokyo, London, Berlin, Chicago and New York,” April’s coach Karen Zimmerman said.
“So it is a huge honour for Lusapho to be returning to Boston for the third time.
“He is hoping to improve on his previous attempts in 2014 and 2015 when he was respectively 15th and 13th in 2hrs, 14min and 59sec and 2hrs, 16min and 25sec.
“On both those occasions the runners had to run into a headwind the entire way, so his wish for this year’s race is for a following wind to push them along to faster times and a top 10 position.”
April is no stranger to the big occasions in the United States and put in a superb performance to finish third in the New York Marathon in 2013, while he finished 11th in that race on another occasion.
He has enjoyed a solid buildup to the Boston event, not taking part in big runs, but just keeping himself fit and ready for the race.
This included a month spent training at altitude in Hogsback over November/December and again in January.
“He has also raced a few local races to sharpen up,” said Zimmerman.
“In February, he won the Buffs Half-Marathon in 65 minutes.
“Last month he won the BRAC 10km in King William’s Town in 30 minutes as well as the Mercedes-Benz 15km in 46 minutes, while he also then placed eighth in the Two Oceans Half-Marathon in 65 minutes.”
April’s original target had been to represent South Africa at the Commonwealth Games in Australia this month, but despite doing well enough to qualify, Sascoc pulled the plug on SA marathon runners at the Games.
“Although Athletics South Africa selected him for the Commonwealth Games Marathon, Sascoc did not include any marathon runners in the final team and as a result Boston was one of the options available to him as the two races are only a day apart,” said Zimmerman.
April will be gunning for a strong performance at the Boston Marathon now, so to buildup confidence and pick up momentum towards a big season.
“He returns to South Africa on Wednesday and after a few weeks recovery will start preparing for his next marathon, which will only be finalised after Boston.
“His long-term plan is to qualify for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, which will be his third and he hopes to stay healthy and injury free for as long as possible.”
The Boston Marathon takes centre stage on Monday morning with the elite women starting at 9.32am (3.32pm SA time) and the elite men at 10am (4pm SA time) and will be screened live on SuperSport 5 from 3pm to 6.30pm.