April 4, 2011. It’s been a long time since the legendary Zola Budd was in Natal and especially Durban, but this week saw her back at STS Sport at the Moses Mabhida Stadium.
Zola, who is bringing the Newtons running shoe brand into South Africa, (she acts as a brand ambassador as well as being involved in product development), took part in a friendly 5km run along Durban’s golden mile on Saturday morning, attended by a crowd of runners who fondly remember this running great and her achievements.
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On Sunday morning Zola also took part in the Queensburgh Harriers Mineshaft 21km, coming in as the second lady in an impressive time of 1hr 35min. A great result for this 43-year-old mother of three, who has built her career training on the dead flat roads of Bloemfontein and South Carolina.
For those who don’t remember this SA great:
Zola Budd achieved fame as a barefoot runner; she specialised in track and cross country and broke the 5000m world record at the age of 17.
Unable to take part in the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles because of the bans against apartheid, she eventually applied for a British passport (spurred on by the British newspaper the Daily Mail) and was able to run for Britain. Who could ever forget the dramatic footage of her unfortunate clash with American champion Mary Decker at the Olympic Games?
Zola is an Olympian, has two World Cross Country titles as well as having held numerous track world records, including 800m, 1500m, 2000m, 3000m, 5000m, the mile, 10km and everything in between.
The STS Sport shop at the Moses Mabhida Stadium stocks a wide range of Newtons shoes. These are worn by running greats like Zola and Craig Alexander (The World Ironman Triathlon Champion). For those keen to meet Zola – she will be back again for the Comrades Expo where she will be at the Newtons and STS Sport stand.
For info: mark@sportsperformance.co.za