Hendrick Ramaala

Hendrick Ramaala ( born February 2, 1972 in Polokwane ) is a South African long-distance runner.

He improved three times the South African record in the 10,000 -meter run, most recently in 1999 min to set the current mark of 27:29,94, and introduced in 1998 in the 20 -km ( 57:46 min) and 1999 in the 10 - km - road race on ( 28:02 min) also two national records that still have stock today. In the half marathon, it has the five best times, a South African is ever run.

In the World Half Marathon Championships, he was second twice (1998 and 1999 ) and twice Fourth ( 1997 and 2001 ). 1997, 2003 and 2006, he won the Great North Run.

In a marathon, the Olympic Summer Games 2000 in Sydney, he finished in twelfth place, at the IAAF 2003 World Championships in Paris / Saint- Denis the ninth.

In 2000 he was fifth at the London Marathon, 2001, he occupied the same space at the New York City Marathon.

In 2004 he won first at Mumbai Marathon and then at the New York City Marathon. A year later, he finished third in London and in New York City in the tightest finish of the history of this marathon second behind Paul Tergat with 0.3 seconds back.

In 2006, he put on his best time of 2:06:55 hours in third place in London. The following year he was fifth in London, ranked at the World Athletics Championships in Osaka 27th place and finished third in New York City.

After a rather disappointing year in 2008, in which he finished 44th in the marathon in the Olympic Games in Beijing, he enlisted in 2009 with a fifth place in the London Marathon and a time of 2:07:44 hours back.

Ramaala is 1,72 m tall and weighs 58 kg. He graduated in law at the University of Witwatersrand. When his attempt failed to be included in the football team of the University, he resorted to running. He currently lives in Johannesburg. He is his own coach and completed most of his training on a 3.5 -kilometer round. His partner is the French long-distance runner Rodica Daniela Moroianu.