Battle of the giants at Yellow Pages final leg

[TheEd]

The final leg of the Yellow Pages Summer Series is set to take place in Cape Town at the Parow Track on 17 December 2011. Not only is it the last leg of this fun filled athletics series, but also the meeting where some of South Africa’s upcoming athletes together with the more experienced will compete.

The South African Record holder in the youth Javelin throw, Morne Moolman, will be competing in the final leg of this fun series before his transition to junior athlete next year. With a throw of 83.16m in the qualifying rounds at the World Youth Championships in France in July, Moolman has the 5th best throw on the world all time list. Only American Braian Toledo has gone further. In the absence of World Youth Champion, Reinhardt van Zyl, Moolman and Jeandre Slabbert will be going head to head. Slabbert’s best this season was 70.27m Paarl in March.

The men’s long jump should deliver up a competition of note with World Junior Champion Luvo Manyonga and Khotso Mokoena meeting up again. The two have 4 times in their career with the score deadlocked at 2:2. Manyonga has already cleared 8m in the preseason after his 8.07 in Stellenbosch at the Yellow Pages Summer Series Meeting on 15 December. Khotso Mokoena had a disappointing finish to the year when he just missed out on qualifying for the final at the World Championships Manyonga finished 5th at the World Championships.

Mokoena, taking the theme of fun holiday athletics to a new level, made a decision to compete in a different event. The long jump athlete will make his debut in the 150m against names like Sergio Mullins, Leigh Julius, Brent Stevens, Wayde van Niekerk and Roscoe Engel. Mullins, Stevens and Julius have been performing well at this series dominating the 60m and 150m throughout the series. Van Niekerk is showing good form ahead of the season with a win the men’s 300m (33.32sec) in Stellenbosch. Engel run in the 4x100m relay in Deagu and also competed in the Parow leg of the Yellow Pages Summer Series in 2010 where he finished 3rd in the 150m, crossing the line in 15.81sec.

The gates will open at 08h00 as the first event starts at 10h00. The main program will start at 16h30. An entrance fee of R10 is payable at the gate with the first 200 spectators to enter receiving free Yellow Pages Sporty hats.

Lionel Smith, Trudon GM: Marketing, said: “The 2011 Yellow Pages Summer Series has delivered the type of action-packed sports entertainment for the whole family during the meetings held in Port Elizabeth, Oudtshoorn and Stellenbosch. I have no doubt that the athletes will be looking to end the year on a winning note and give the Western Cape fans much to cheer about when they compete in Parow tomorrow.”

“Yellow Pages is proud to be involved with ASA’s track and field events and look forward to witnessing even more spectacular performances in the 2012 Yellow Pages track and field season.”