{"id":16064,"date":"2018-02-06T18:47:24","date_gmt":"2018-02-06T16:47:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/?p=16064"},"modified":"2018-02-06T18:47:24","modified_gmt":"2018-02-06T16:47:24","slug":"joshua-cheptegei-leads-top-names-at-inaugural-athletix-grand-prix-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/press-release\/joshua-cheptegei-leads-top-names-at-inaugural-athletix-grand-prix-meet\/","title":{"rendered":"Joshua Cheptegei leads top names at inaugural Athletix Grand Prix Meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seen here:\u00a0 Joshua Cheptegei in action.\u00a0 Photo Credit:\u00a0 Image SA<\/em><\/p>\n

World Championship 10 000m silver medallist, Joshua Cheptegei is the first big name to be announced to compete in the inaugural Athletix Grand Prix Series in March 2018.<\/p>\n

The Athletix Grand Prix Series consists of three meetings:\u00a0 1. Ruimsig Stadium, Johannesburg on Thursday, 01 March 2018, 2. Tuks Stadium, Tshwane on Thursday, 08 March 2018 and 3. Dal Josaphat Stadium, Paarl on Thursday, 22 March 2018.<\/p>\n

Cheptegei will be seen in action at the first two meetings.\u00a0 No stranger to South Africa, Cheptegei won the inaugural FNB Durban 10K CITYSURFRUN in October last year when he ran the fourth fastest time in the world for 10km and also set a new All Comers Record of 27:28 for the distance.<\/p>\n

This time though, the 21-year-old Ugandan has his sights set on shorter, faster races. Cheptegei will open his 2018 campaign at the Athletix Grand Prix Meeting at the Ruimsig Stadium (Roodepoort) where he will line up against some of South Africa\u2019s finest middle distance athletes which will include Jerry Motsau.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to run a time of around 3:32 on 1 March. I need to improve my speed for my specialist events, the 5000m and 10 000m.\u00a0 The 1500m is perfect for that,\u201d he said.\u00a0 Cheptegei has only run one 1500m in his career, the Nijmegen<\/em> Global Athletics Meet in 2016 <\/em>where he finished 3rd<\/sup> in a time of 3:37.82.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know I am much faster than that.\u00a0 In Ruimsig I expect to go out hard and with the help of pacemakers, I will run fast.\u201d Cheptegei will be accompanied by his training partner, Abel Sikowo.\u00a0 Whether Sikowo will sacrifice his race for Cheptegei remains to be seen. \u201cWe will be racing each other. If we can help each other to a fast time, then that would be ideal, but there is no talk of Abel (Sikowo) pacing for me.\u201d<\/p>\n

Cheptegei freely admits that it will be a challenging race for him. Not only will South Africa\u2019s middle distance heroes be hunting for his scalp, but it will also be the first race of his season.\u00a0 \u201cThe first race is always tough.\u00a0 You are race rusty and not sure how the body will react under the pressure of racing. You do all the work in training, but racing is a different ball game.\u00a0 Things that are out of your control happen.\u00a0 So I am a bit nervous, but very excited to be opening my season in South Africa.\u201d<\/p>\n

He will also compete in the second Meet of the series at Tuks on 08 March, but whether he will run a 1500m or 3000m is still being decided. Either distance will suit the man who is hailed to take over from Mo Farah as the best middle distance athlete. \u201cI am running the 5000m at the Commonwealth Games in April and this series is the perfect opportunity for me to fine tune for the competition.\u00a0 If I post a good fast time here in South Africa, my rivals will know that I am coming for them.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

EVENT INFORMATION<\/u><\/strong>:\u00a0 <\/strong>Athletix Grand Prix Series<\/p>\n

Dates and Venues<\/u><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n
Thursday, 01 March 2018<\/strong><\/td>\nRuimsig Stadium, Johannesburg<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, 08 March 2018<\/strong><\/td>\nTuks Stadium, Tshwane<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Thursday, 22 March 2018<\/strong><\/td>\nDal Josaphat Stadium, Paarl<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

Ticket Prices<\/u><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Main Pavilion Tickets\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Standard Ticket:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/td>\nR 100 each<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Children under 16 years of age:<\/strong><\/td>\nR 50 each<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

\u00a0<\/strong>Open Stand\/Grass Banks<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n
Standard Ti<\/strong>cket:\u00a0 <\/strong><\/td>\nR 50 each<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
Children under 16 years of age:<\/strong><\/td>\nR 50 each<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

 <\/p>\n

ONLINE TICKET SALES <\/strong>will open on Wednesday, 14 February 2018<\/strong>.\u00a0 Tickets can also be purchased at the gates of each event.<\/p>\n

Facebook:\u00a0 <\/strong>AthletixGrandPrix<\/a><\/p>\n

Twitter:<\/strong> @AthletixGP<\/a><\/p>\n

Website: <\/strong>www.athletixgrandprix.com<\/a><\/p>\n

About Athletics South Africa<\/u><\/strong>:<\/strong><\/p>\n

Athletics South Africa (ASA) <\/em>is the national governing body for the sport of athletics (including <\/em>track and field<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>cross country<\/em><\/a>, <\/em>road running<\/em><\/a> and <\/em>racewalking<\/em><\/a>) in South Africa, recognised by the <\/em>IAAF<\/em><\/a>,<\/em> and also a member of <\/em>Confederation of African Athletics<\/em><\/a>.\u00a0 The association is based in <\/em>Johannesburg<\/em><\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Seen here:\u00a0 Joshua Cheptegei in action.\u00a0 Photo Credit:\u00a0 Image SA World Championship 10 000m silver medallist, Joshua Cheptegei is the first big name to be announced to compete in the inaugural Athletix Grand Prix Series in March 2018. The Athletix Grand Prix Series consists of three meetings:\u00a0 1. Ruimsig Stadium, Johannesburg on Thursday, 01 March […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1206],"tags":[2049,3158],"class_list":["post-16064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-press-release","tag-athletics","tag-athletix-grand-prix"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16064\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}