Kelehe brothers eye gold

2008-06-14 16:45

Durban - Seasoned veteran and 2001 winner Andrew Kelehe and his younger brother Gift are two of the athletes hoping to achieve gold medals in the 2008 Comrades Marathon on Sunday.

Andrew, a policeman from Mafikeng and now in his early 40s, is looking for his 11th gold medal to match Bruce Fordyce's milestone. He was the fastest man on the planet, per kilometre, before Leonid Shvetsov destroyed the record books last year.

However, he is still the only runner to win his 10 gold medals in consecutive years, from 1997-2006, but, unfortunately, he missed out last year.

His coach John Hamlett says he is in fine form and feeling quite relaxed after the recent birth of his son.

"The pressure to win is off him this year. He was such a popular runner and was always surrounded by a pack of people who wanted to run with him. The TV cameras were on him and he also had supporters giving him information along the way. Now, he can just relax and run his own race."

Kelehe lost his daughter to an illness on Valentine's Day 2001 when she was just under two years old. He and his wife have been trying for another child since then and are now the proud parents of Kabelo John, born a few weeks ago.

"It has not affected his training for Comrades. In fact, it has spurred him on. Since his son was born, he has refocused and wants to put his name into the history books equalling Fordyce's record," said his coach.

Andrew will be running alongside his younger brother Gift, competing in only his second Comrades. "When they run together, their styles are so similar, only an expert can tell them apart," said Hamlett, who is very excited about his new prodigy. "Gift is definitely a new addition to the gold medal hopefuls."

- SAPA