Johnson, De Reuck Victorious in a Sweep for South Africans

A celebration of 1996 continued for Ashley Johnson on Sunday at Redondo Beach.

Johnson, a South African expatriate who was banned from world competition for two years because of his country’s former apartheid policies, broke away from Bob Kempainen in the final quarter-mile to win the men’s division of the Redondo 10-K road race.

His time was 29 minutes 12 seconds, one second faster than Kempainen and two seconds ahead of Marco Ochoa.

In a South African sweep, Colleen De Reuck took control of the women’s race after the first mile and coasted home in a course-record 32:11, 33 seconds ahead of Linda Somers, who had won the previous two Redondo runs.

Johnson, who lives in Flagstaff, Ariz., was a 1,500-meter runner who has stretched his distance as he aged, and he, like Kempainen, was using Redondo as a final competition run before the men’s Olympic marathon trials, Feb. 17 in Charlotte, N.C.

“I’m really excited about it,” he said. “After all these years, at 34 years of age, I finally get to run in the trials. Just to make it to the starting line there is something I can tell my grandchildren about.”

He and Kempainen, from Minneapolis, stayed with a pack of eight runners through the first two miles at Redondo Beach, running a sub-five minute pace. As the pack dwindled and the pace slowed, it became evident that it would be a two-man race and at a time well off the 28:27 race record.

“This was just a blowout to check on my fitness [for the trials],” Johnson said. “I really wasn’t expecting to win. I thought I’d run 29:40 or 29:50.”

Kempainen, the U.S. marathon record-holder and top-seeded at the trials, was satisfied with his effort.

“I’m in the ballpark of where I need to be,” he said. “I would have liked to have won, but that’s not why I was here. I didn’t want to do anything stupid and jeopardize my chances [in Charlotte], and when we went out in 4:50 [for the first mile] I thought that was a little fast.”

Somers, from Oakland, had the same idea in the women’s race. She has only two weeks until the women’s marathon trials, Feb. 10 in Columbia, S.C.

“[De Reuck] went out so fast,” Somers said. “I stayed with her for a mile, and then I thought about why I was here. I just don’t have that kind of speed because I have been training for a marathon. If I had been training for a 10K or 5K, it might have been different.”

She has run “about five races” against De Reuck at various distances and never beaten her.

De Reuck, still a South African citizen and now living in Longmont, Colo,. also is a marathoner, but specializes in cross-country races. She has not made her country’s Olympic team and is pointing for the World Cross-Country Championships in March.

“Linda Somers and I went out pretty fast, and then around the first turn I just went,” she said. “Once in a while, I would look back, but I was pretty much alone.”

De Reuck and Johnson earned $1,000 for their victories, and Kempainen and Somers picked up $250.