Zola Budd, 47, Still Going Strong

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By Rameshon

Bsc (Hons) Degree in Physical Education, Loughborough University (1992-1994)

Masters in Education (University of Western Australia, 2005-2008)

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Zola Budd, 47, gets invite to US College race, destroys a field of 106

Fit To Post Sports – Wed, Oct 9, 2013, 7:42 AM SGT

By World of Sport (original post from Yahoo Eurosport here)

British Olympian Zola Budd is famous for running barefoot, 'tripping' Mary Decker and being South African.

However, all that controversy throughout her career also makes it easy to forget that she was a fantastic runner. Correction: is a fantastic runner.

She proved as much last Saturday as, despite now being 47, Budd proved she can still run at a high level at a race in North Carolina.

Budd was given a special invitation to the HBCU Challenge 5K race, a competition for college runners. But rather than turn up, smile politely, sign a few autographs and smile for the crowd before jogging round, she simply destroyed the field of 106 women half her age.

Budd, not running barefoot this time, won the race in a time of 17 minutes and 47 seconds, which saw her win by a whopping 50 seconds.

The time was well short of her previous world record over 5,000m - 14:48.07 – but was still more than enough for an easy victory.

"I haven’t been running under 18 minutes for quite a while so I'm pleased," she said.

NBC's Olympic talk reveals:

Budd said she has been living in Myrtle Beach, S.C., f
or about five years since she moved from South Africa. She runs an elementary and middle school running program in Myrtle Beach and still does clinics in South Africa.

She was asked her advice for younger runners.
“Running is just a part of your life, not your (whole) life," Budd said. “Whatever happens, it’s fine. Just go along with the flow. Take the bad runs with the good runs. Make an experience of it. Don’t be too goal-oriented."



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By Narayanan
Rameshon has taught in Hwa Chong Institution, plus several schools, and Republic Polytechnic as well. He has won many accolades and he was awarded Merit Award for 1991 marathon performance in breaking the national record of Singapore, at that time. He has made 22 male athletes do a marathon in sub-3hrs. He has made 7 female runners do sub-4 hours for the marathon, as well. He was inducted to the ‘Roll of Honour’  by the then College of Physical Education, organised by Singapore Olympic Academy, in 1998, for breaking the National record repeatedly 4 times, till he did 2hr 24min 22sec).

He also has a Coaching group and he trains them on Tuesdays and Thursdays, 7pm at Botanic Gardens. Those interested can call him at 91004369 for coaching assistance, to improve performance. There is also personal training that he does for many in a week. You can e-mail him at swift.rameshon@gmail.com.