Lutendo Mapoto won the annual Werda Mountain race in a wet Makhado (Louis Trichardt) on Saturday morning.

He finished the closely contested race in a time of 1:16:52. Rufus Photo finished the race one second behind Mapoto. A local athlete, Steven Mudzanani, was third in 1:17:08.

The category for veterans was won by Emmanuel Matumba in 1:26:53 and the winner of the category for masters was Thomas Ngobeni, who finished in 2:01:08. The grand master category was won by Allan Johnson in a very good time of 2:23:47.

In the ladies category, local star Jane Mudau won in 1:41:34. Pearly Hughes finished in second place, 19 minutes behind Mudau. Veteran M Jenett finished third in a time of 2:03:11. Jane also won the ladies veteran section, while Florence Mamabolo won the ladies masters category in 2:09:54.

The winner of the 10 km was Phuthi Mohale, who finished in 38:06. David Netshaulu finished ten seconds behind him and Shadrack Hlungwani third in a time of 41:03.

Bethuel Netshifhefhe won the veteran’s division in a time of 42:09.

The winners of the 21,1km race went home with R600 each, while the winners of the different categories of the 10km race received R500 each.