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08 May 2018 Photo Reg Caldecott
Yet another victory for Kesa
Kesa Molotsane crossing the line at the second Spar women’s challenge in Port Elizabeth on Saturday morning. She also won the first race in March.
Kesa Molotsane, ace distance runner of the University of the Free State (UFS) continued her rich vein of form on Saturday (May 5) by registering yet another win.

Molotsane coasted to victory in the Spar women’s 10km challenge in Port Elizabeth. Her winning time was 33:46 minutes, 15 seconds ahead of rival and reigning South African cross-country champion, Glenrose Xaba.

Molotsane also reigned supreme in the first race towards the end of March in Cape Town in a time of 34:10. There are six races in total and last year Molotsane was crowned the overall champion in which she achieved her personal best of 32:59.

Just a week before, the 26-year-old smashed the national student record in the 10000m by a massive three minutes and five seconds at the University Sport South Africa champs. The record now stands at 34:49.16.

She was one of two Kovsies to walk away with two gold medals (in the 5000m and 10000m).

“I wasn’t in the right frame of mind and I couldn’t run according to my original plan. It was only at about 5km that I really felt I was in the race. I’m a fighter and at 7km I felt I had to go for it,” Molotsane said about Saturday’s race.

8108 runners entered the 10km challenge and the 5km fun run.

According to Molotsane she is struggling to juggle her track running, cross-country and Spar races.

“I’m trying to qualify for the 5000m at the African championships. I still want to do all three disciplines, although I will eventually have to decide on one.”

News Archive

Medical team performs first hybrid procedure in the Free State
2014-12-08

The days when a heart operation meant hours in an operating theatre, with weeks and even months of convalescing, will soon be something of the past.

A team of cardiologists from the University of the Free State’s (UFS) Faculty of Health Sciences once again made medical history when they performed the first hybrid procedure in the Free State.

The Department of Paediatric Cardiology, in conjunction with the Department of Cardiothoracic Surgery, performed this very successful procedure on a 45-year-old woman from Kuruman.

During the procedure of 30 minutes, the patient’s thorax was opened up through a mini thoracotomy to operate on the beating heart.

“The patient received an artificial valve in 2011. Due to infection, a giant aneurism developed from the left ventricle, next to the aorta. Surgery would pose a very high risk to the patient. Furthermore, her health was such that it would contribute to problems during open-heart surgery,” explains Prof Stephen Brown, Head of the UFS’s Department of Paediatric Cardiology.

“After the heart was opened up through a mini thoracotomy, the paediatric cardiologists performed a direct puncture with a needle to the left ventricle cavity. A Special sheath was then placed in the left ventricle to bypass the catheters. Aided by highly advanced three-dimensional echocardiography and dihedral X-ray guidance, the opening to the aneurism, located directly below the artificial aorta valve, was identified and the aneurism cannulated.”
 
During the operation, a special coil, called a Nester Retractor, was used for the first time on a patient in South Africa to obtain stasis of extravasation and ensure the stability of devices in the aneurism.

“This is highly advanced and specialist work, as we had to make sure that the aneurism doesn’t rupture during manipulation and the devices had to be positioned in such a way that it doesn’t cause obstruction in valve function or the coronary artery. The surgical team was ready all the time to switch the patient to the heart-lung machine should something go wrong, but the procedure was very successful and the patient was discharged after a few days.”

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