Marathon star seeks new high

Former South African distance runner has set high goals for herself. Climbing Mount Everest is one of them. 8220;I want to climb the highest peak in the world in 2008

Former South African distance runner has set high goals for herself. Climbing Mount Everest is one of them. 8220;I want to climb the highest peak in the world in 2008,8221; she said of her future plans, during a media briefing at the Hutch Delhi Half Marathon here today.

Elana was on a trip to Nepal last year where she happened to visit the Everest base camp. It8217;s here she spoke to some of the mountaineers preparing to scale the peak and immediately she decided that she would do so one day. 8220;That8217;s how I got the inspiration, and having already scaled Mount Kilmanjaro, the highest peak in Africa, I knew I can do it, 8220; she said.

As part of her preparation, Elana is thinking of hitting the Alaska mountains next year. 8220;I8217;m in touch with Alpine Ascent Group and planning all aspects relating to mountain climbing,8221; said the South African who will turn 40 next week.

Elana, whose athletics career began when she was a 13-year-old, has a vast distance running experience. Prominent among them include Boston, London Chicago Marathon events besides the others across the world. In fact, she won her first event when she competed at the Caltex Foot of Africa Half Marathon in 1980, but was disqualified as she was under age for the event. After a splendid career, she quit competitive sports in 2004.

Incidentally, she became the first South African to win an Olympic track medal for her country in 30 years at Barcelona. She gave up competitive athletics in 2004 following some personal problems. Her last road race was the Lagos Half Marathon in November 2004, where she clocked 1:24.40 seconds.

Now she is back and focused again. On her comeback, she wants to win ultra marathon races. Hence winning the women8217;s title in the 56km Two Ocean ultra marathon race in 2007 is her immediate goal that she would like to achieve in the near future. Two Ocean ultra race is among the most popular and biggest in South Africa. Comrades marathon being the other.

What brings Elana to the Delhi Half Marathon is her eagerness to prepare for the Cape Town event. But the Barcelona Olympic 10,000m silver medallist may have lost some of her competitive days8217; sting 8212; she set the best world half marathon time of 66:44 seconds in 1999. Admitting that she may find it a bit difficult against the elite, she said would try to run a good race on Sunday. 8220;Its tough to gain the lost fitness in a short time. But still I am not that bad,8221; she added.

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For Elana, who had set six world records in various half-marathon events, Singapore will be her next stop before she attempts to capture the title in Two Ocean event. 8220;I need to run a decent time at Singapore to achieve a qualifying mark for the Two Ocean,8221; she said.

Apart from running ultra races, she also want to devote time for the development of athletics in her home town of Stellenbosch. 8220;I want to give back to the sport what I have learned from it in the past 15 years,8221; she said. Part of her plans, says Elana, is also to promote athletics among the school children. 8220;Running is the best form of exercise to improve fitness,8221; she added.