Rainhold Tomas, one of Namibia’s elite long-distance runners, has set his sight on breaking the men’s national marathon record that was set by Luketz Swartbooi 28 years ago.
Swartbooi, who has since retired from long distance running, set his personal best and national record of two hours, nine minutes and eight seconds (02:09:08) while competing at the Boston marathon in 1994, where he finished in third place.
In an interview with Nampa on Tuesday, Tomas, who represented Namibia in the men’s marathon at the 2019 World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar and the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan, said qualifying for the Commonwealth Games on Sunday was a blessing for him.
“I am happy to have qualified for the 2022 Commonwealth Games that will be held in Birmingham, England. My aim, whenever I compete, is to always aim at running the national record that is still standing since Luketz Swartbooi set it,” he said.
The Namibian runner, who finished 13th at the 2022 Xiamen Marathon on Sunday and ran a qualifying time for the Commonwealth Games, stated that his personal best of 2:10:24 which he ran at the same marathon in 2021 is an encouragement for him.
“I ran my seasonal best on Sunday in China, which is a Commonwealth Games qualifier. I am currently fit and will continue to prepare well for the Commonwealth Games so I can achieve my set goals at this year’s championships,” Tomas said.
In 2021, Tomas finished 28th at the Xiamen Marathon in a time of 2:10:24, which was his personal best and a performance that qualified him for the men’s marathon at the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan last year.
At this year’s marathon, he finished 13th in a time of 2:12:55, over six minutes and 58 seconds behind the winner Aredo Shifera of Ethiopia, who clocked 2:06:31.
Tomas will join another marathon runner, 2018 Commonwealth Games, and gold medalist, Helalia Johannes, who qualified for the Commonwealth Games after her impressive performance at the 2020 Olympic Games, where she finished 11th.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency