Stephen Mokoka is looking to reclaim his title at the 2018 FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN on Sunday, 20 May 2018.<\/p>\n
In 2016, Mokoka came within three seconds of the then 12km World Best when he destroyed a quality field, including the likes of Daniel Salel and Emmanuel Bett, to win the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN in 33:34. In 2017, Mokoka was not at his best, having come off injury, and finished 6th<\/sup>.\u00a0 This year, however, he wants to reclaim his title.<\/p>\n \u201cI cancelled the marathon I was planning to run in April to focus on the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN this year. If we go through 10km in around 28 minutes, we can break Morris\u2019 record. We do not have to go out at a 2:42 or 2:45 pace per kilometre, but we can run at 2:48, get to 10km in 28 minutes and still break the World Best. That last 800m of the race, if the route is the same, is incredibly fast and you can bank huge time there,\u201d said Mokoka. Morris Gachaga of Kenya, in winning the 2017 edition of the race, set a new World Best for 12km of 33:27.<\/p>\n The South African holds the record for 10km on the road when he finished second at the Great Manchester Run in 2015, clocking 27:38 behind Stephen Sambu and has shown impressive form already this year. Mokoka cruised to his 8th<\/sup> national 10 000m title at Tuks in Pretoria on 15 March, completely controlling the race.\u00a0 More impressive was his performance in Brisbane at the Commonwealth Games. The 33-year-old finished 6th<\/sup> in field that included World Championship 10 000m silver medallist, Joshua Cheptegei, Canada\u2019s Mohammed Ahmed, Rogers Chumo and Kiwi, Jake Robertson.\u00a0 His 27:44.58 was the fastest 10 000m Mokoka has run since 2015 and is his third best time ever. All this bodes well for his challenge in Cape Town.<\/p>\n \u201cI love racing in Cape Town, especially this race. We always have good competition from outside the country which makes us run better. So I am looking forward to running again in the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN. I know we will once again have a really tight tussle. It\u2019s going to be good.\u201d<\/p>\n Currently the first big announcement in the men\u2019s field is Uganda\u2019s Abdallah Mande who boasts a half marathon best of 60:14, and his 10 mile (45:39) and 15km (43:35) times show that he is a fast and dangerous athlete. Compare that to Mokoka\u2019s 10 mile best (46:25 \u2013 Portsmouth, 25 October 2009) and 60:40 (South Shields, 13 September 2015) and it is clear that the race will once again not be for the faint hearted. \u201cThose are good times. I haven\u2019t raced against him yet, but he certainly can run fast, which means we will not be able to sit and watch each other. That\u2019s good,\u201d said Mokoka.<\/p>\n This will be the third time that Stephen Mokoka lines up in the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN, having missed the first year (2015) of the race. He won in 2016 (33:34) and was 6th<\/sup> in 2017 (34:43).<\/p>\n EVENT INFORMATION<\/u>:\u00a0 <\/strong>FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN<\/p>\n