Author: Modern Athlete

Micronutrients are those vitamins and minerals required in very small quantities by our bodies for growth and development, but as athletes they take on an even more important role, which is why supplementation with a multivitamin could help your sports performance – but only if you need extra vitamins and minerals. – BY CHRISTINE PETERS, REGISTERED DIETICIAN

When we exercise, we place certain stresses on our bodies which may lead to the loss of micronutrients in the body. These micronutrients play an important role in energy production, maintenance of bone health and adequate immune function, to mention but a few. They also help with the synthesis and repair of muscle tissue during recovery from exercise and injury. Therefore, a greater intake of micronutrients may be needed in athletes for building, repair and maintenance of lean body mass.

The most important vitamins and minerals include:

•Calcium: Especially important for growth, maintenance and repair of bone tissue, maintenance of blood calcium levels, regulation of muscle contraction, nerve conduction, and normal blood clotting.

•Vitamin D: Important for calcium absorption, regulation of serum calcium and phosphorous levels, and promotion of bone health.

•B Vitamins: Important to ensure adequate energy production and building and repair of muscle tissue.

•Iron: Required for the formation of oxygen-carrying proteins, haemoglobin and myoglobin, and for enzymes involvedin energy production.

•Zinc: Plays a role in growth, building muscle tissue, energy production and immune status.

•Antioxidants – Vitamin C and E, Beta-Carotene and Selenium: Play important roles in protecting the cell membranes from oxidative stress damage.

•Magnesium: Plays a variety of roles in cellular metabolism and regulates membrane stability and neuromuscular, cardiovascular, immune and hormonal functions.

SO WHO NEEDS TO SUPPLEMENT?
Athletes consuming a healthy balanced diet don’t necessarily need to supplement with vitamins and minerals, as their diets will still be adequate to supply these higher micronutrient needs. However, athletes who are at greater risk include those who restrict energy intake or have severe weight-loss practices, those who eliminate specific food groups from their diets, and those who consume unbalanced and low micronutrient diets.

Therefore, supplementing with vitamins and minerals will not improve athletic performance in athletes who eat nutritionally balanced diets, and these athletes do not necessarily need to take a multivitamin to meet higher micronutrient demands placed on the body by athletic activities. And you should also always read patient information leaflets before taking supplements, or consult your doctor or chemist when taking other medication.

Christena Walter is a 57-year-old Irish mother of four with a Swedish husband who landed on our shores in mid-2014. Having lived all over the world and taken up running along the way, it was in South Africa that the running bug really took hold of her! – BY TREVOR HOSKINS

It was while living in Baghdad in 1986 that Christena started running, out of boredom with the repetition of her normal gym routine. She quickly grew to love it, and even though Iraq was then at war with Iran, running became a regular part of her routine. Later that year she was persuaded to run her first marathon, which was four laps of a 10km route with an extra bit added to make up the distance, and she finished it in a little under four hours.

In the years that followed, Christena gave birth to four daughters while the family moved several times around the globe, and she continued running casually in between the pregnancies and moves. It was only when living in Kenya for five years that her running moved to a new, more formal level, when she joined a running club, but even this was ‘ casual running’ by comparison to what she found in South Africa when she moved here in 2014.

UNIQUELY SOUTH AFRICANSoon after moving into their new home in Dainfern in Johannesburg, Christena was encouraged to attend a runners’ meeting at the local clubhouse, which was her first interaction with what she calls a bunch of crazy South African runners! “There was nothing casual about their approach to running, however, in that their distances were longer and more regular than anything I had been used to, but what amazed me most was how friendly and accommodating everyone seemed to be,” says Christena.

This friendliness extended beyond Dainfern into races and Christena says she was simply blown away at the level of organisation of SA events, especially in terms of what is offered at the refreshment stations. “I remember running the Kilimanjaro Marathon one year and only one station, at the 32k mark, offered anything other than water – and that was after a 16km climb to get to that point!” she says. The other aspect of SA races that she immediately took to was the spirit and vibe amongst the runners. “The amazing camaraderie here was certainly not what I had experienced internationally. I had competed in several international big city marathons around the world and none even come close to the vibe experienced here.

”Another highlight of SA for her was the availability of running-related gear here, which she describes as phenomenal, and she also speaks glowingly about our sports medicine options. “The injury care options here are also simply amazing,in that specific treatments are carried out to address specific problems, whereas my experience, including in some First World countries, is generally that medicine is just prescribed to deal with various issues. Put all of these things together and you’ ll see why I strongly believe that South African runners are spoilt for choice in every respect!”

LOVING THE RACES However, probably Christena’ s favourite aspect of SA running is the full race calendar throughout the year, which she says is not the case anywhere else in the world, and she has found herself on the top step of the podium in the women’ s masters 50-59 age category several times over the past few years. Her most recent achievements include winning her category at the Forever Resorts Loskop Ultra-marathon and finishing second master at the MiWay Wally Hayward Marathon. Interestingly, she refuses to put herself under pressure during races by wearing a watch!

Unsurprisingly, the seed of running Comrades was planted very early on in Christena’ s association with the Dainfern crowd, and she says the race has become one of her firm favourites. “Mention the word Comrades internationally, more so if you have a medal, and people are in awe – it just seems to be a bucket list race for so many people all over the world.” Christena clocked a 9:11:44 for a bronze medal in her first Comrades in 2015, then posted 8:29:08 last year to take a Bill Rowan medal.

Sadly, the 2017 Comrades will be her third and last for the time being, because in June she and her husband are moving home yet again, this time to Bangalore in India. She has already made contact with a running club there, who are apparently over the moon that a runner from Comrades country will shortly be joining their ranks, but it is with a heavy heart that this adopted South African will be leaving all this behind. “There is nowhere in the world that has the same passion for running, atmosphere and camaraderie as in South Africa, but I will take with me the most amazing memories that I will cherish forever.”

World-renowned South African golfer Gary Player is a nine-time Major winner, but he is also a 1000-time major winner in the winning-people-over category. He demonstrated that again recently when the six top golfers from Grey College were invited to his Rietfontein farm, outside Colesberg in the Western Cape.

The 81-year-old golfing legend invited the young men to spend a day with him after he was a guest speaker at the Bloemfontein-based school last year. Gary has pledged to speak to millions of children about diabetes, physical exercise, a healthy mind and good nutrition, and when he challenged one of the fittest boys in the school to do push-ups with him on stage, he out-worked the lad… in a three piece suit, nogal! That’ s when the light went on for many of them. “Work hard and be strong!” he told the boys. “And you guys thought I’ d come out here with a Zimmer frame, eh?” Gary chuckled.

But, you may well be asking yourself, what is a story about a golf legend doing in Modern Athlete magazine? Well, Gary is the epitome of a modern athlete, even though he is now in his ninth decade.

LEADING THE WAY
From his earliest days, Gary realised that he needed to cross-train, and to do a lot of it. Small of stature but big of heart, he pushed weights, ran and ate in the most nutritious way possible… all things that most modern athletes take for granted, elements that you have to weave into your daily training routine to become better, faster, stronger. But here’ s the thing, Gary did this in the early 1950’ s, and as a result, most people in (and out) of golf thought he was mad.

Yet, 60 years on and one of South Africa’ s all-time greatest sportsmen is still going strong, as he demonstrated to the young men when he welcomed them at his front door and made each one coffee individually. He then ran them all up “his mountain” to not only show them the awesome view, but also to make them understand that you have to overcome hardship and adversity to get to the top.

“I was seven when I had to travel right across town in Johannesburg to go to school. My mother had just passed away and I was all alone. When I got home at night I had to cook for myself, as my dad was a miner and was workinghundreds of metres underground,” Gary told them. “More than 70 years on, I am glad for that. It made me who and what I am today. Never let adversity break you, let it make you stronger.”

HEALTHY START
In his kitchen in the beautiful farmhouse in the heartland of the Karoo, Gary personally made the group a berry smoothy and then a green juice that he drinks every day, which includes water cress that he grows himself. His brand new Nutribullet had already clocked some interesting ‘ kilometres’ and certainly works overtime in the Player kitchen.

After this hearty breakfast, which was washed down with a healthy muffin and fresh juice, the lads were bundled into the game-viewing vehicle and taken to the other side of the hill, where they all hit golf shots for the maestro and he gave each of them an impromptu golfing lesson. His supple powerful frame still takes the club back and follows through with that swoosh that only great golfers create, and the ball leaves the club with a distinct click that just a few on the planet achieve.

Imagine that, 16 years old and you get a lesson from one of the world’ s best, while all the time he is instilling his incredible work ethic into your psyche! Overall, though, the lesson here is that you are never too old to be a modern athlete… and Gary Player is the epitome of that!

Cape Town-based endurance junkie Miguel Netto has completed two Comrades Marathons and will be aiming for a third this year, but he has never actually flown into Durban for the race. That’s because he has always ridden there on his bike, and is set to make history by doing so once again this year. – By Sean Falconer

When 1931 Comrades Marathon winner Phil Masterton-Smith climbed on his bike in 1933 to ride from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg to go run the Comrades, because he could not afford the train fare, he could not have foreseen that nearly 80 years later his incredible feat would become the inspiration for an annual ride that not only commemorates his journey, but also raises a huge amount of money for charity. And he definitely would not have predicted that somebody would repeat his gruelling trip three times… but that is what 31-year-old marketing executive Miguel Netto is set to do this year.

Known as Unogwaja – Zulu for a hare – Phil took 10 days to cover the 1600-plus kilometres to Maritzburg, arriving the day before the Comrades, which he then ran and finished a remarkable 10th. That story inspired Red Sock founder John McInroy and friends to take on the first Unogwaja Challenge in 2011, to raise money for the Comrades charities, and every year since then they have repeated the trip, with athletes from all over the world applying to be part of the team and riding to raise funds for the Unogwaja Light Fund, which channels money to various causes around the country. A few athletes have completed the trip twice, but this year Miguel will become the first to do a third Unogwaja!

ENDURANCE JUNKIE

Miguel’s sporting background includes playing cricket in the UK, but his focus has always been on endurance sports, notably in ultra-distance triathlons as well as ultra running – he did his fifth full Ironman this year, rode the Absa Cape Epic in 2016, and prior to his first Comrades in 2015 he had completed the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon as well. In that first Comrades, he posted a time of 11:31:53, following the gruelling 10-day ride from Cape Town, and the following year he improved his time to 9:39:46, remarkable given that he had once again done the long ride to get there. When asked why he would want to put himself through this gruelling trip yet again, Miguel simply shrugs his shoulders and smiles…

“There are a few personal reasons, and a few practical reasons. On the personal side it’s the best way to experience the mind-blowing beauty of this country we live in, and it’s a channel for me to make the biggest difference in the field of what I love doing,” says Miguel. “Also, what I’ve gone through with Unogwaja for the past two years has been simply life-changing, so going back and adding a personal tribute by becoming the first to do it three times also adds a little bit to it. But it’s more about signing off on what is probably going to be my last Unogwaja – at least for now – and trying to make sure that my chapter closes with a bang, both charitable and personal.”

From a practical point of view, Miguel explains that the Unogwaja team likes to take some ‘experience’ out on the road each year, hence asking some riders to return for a second year. “At the farewell breakfast after my first Unogwaja in 2015, I was asked to return in 2016. I had a week to consider it, but I’d already decided on the flight back that I wanted the whole experience again… it was a no-brainer! It is a long and daunting journey, so my role in 2016 was as a second to Stoff, John’s dad and the leader of the trip, and if someone had a puncture or needed help, I was the guy to help them. This year may be Stoff’s last Unogwaja, and we’ve walked a special journey together, so it’ll be special to finish off with him. Also, the team this year is perhaps stronger in running and not as strong a cycling team, so there is an element of being able to help them out on the road again.”

Mainly, however, Miguel admits that he is driven by the goal to become the first South African to do three consecutive Unogwaja rides to Durban and he also has some unfinished business with the Comrades route. “My first Comrades was not great – I only just got to the finish – but last year I finished in just over nine hours, so this year, if I could do a sub-nine, that would finish off the personal goal. But the first priority on any Unogwaja is to get every single team member to Durban, and then get them to the finish line of Comrades. If you have to go back to fetch someone on race day, than that’s just what you need to do. Whatever happens on the day, if I can finish, that will be great, and I can go out with a bang!”

INSPIRED BY HISTORY

Miguel’s path to the Unogwaja Challenge began when he met John through the weekly Red Sock Runs. He saw the Red Sockers out running one Friday morning and by chance happened to meet John a few days later, where they spoke about Unogwaja. “The story captivated me right from the beginning. Apart from the history, it struck a huge nerve with me, given my personal endurance background of pushing the body to its limits, plus it had the charitable and empowering point of view, of doing something for this country. At the time I didn’t actually think it was possible to cycle to Durban and run the Comrades, but now I’m about to do it for the third time!”

Unsurprisingly, Miguel says his first Unogwaja was quite an eye-opener, given that he was going into unknown territory that he had not even experienced in his Ironman or Cape Epic events. “It’s such an interesting thing that goes on in your head. The cycle is so daunting, but with nine strangers you’ve just met, you get on the road and you make it through day one… Everything is sore, but somehow you get through day two, and everything is still sore, and then your body just adapts, and it becomes a rhythm. Then you arrive in Durban to take on the Comrades – and everything is still sore – but the great thing is that there is no expectation on you. Having cycled there, no-one is looking at you to do a great time, your goal is simply to get to the finish line.”

“In my first Comrades, the team got me through to halfway and then we just did what we could to get the rest of the team home. It felt like my teammates were kilometres ahead or behind, but the support group told us afterwards that we were actually just a few minutes away from each other most of the day. The whole day we were passing each other and helping each other, and it was the most special way to run my first Comrades.”

LOOKING AHEAD

If all goes smoothly this year and Miguel ticks off his third Unogwaja, he says he already has plans for the next goal on his bucket list, and says his wife, Rosalind, knows all about his plans. They met through mutual friends while both studying at Stellenbosch University, but went their separate ways until meeting again by chance some years later on a boat cruise in Hermanus. They’ve been married now for nearly two years, and Miguel says she is the best race second he could ever ask for. “Shame, she has to put up with my bucket list of endurance events, but thankfully I’m ticking things off quite quickly.”

“After Unogwaja, I want to go back to triathlons, because I’ve had an overwhelming desire for a couple of years now to go to Hawaii for the Ironman World Champs. I fell just short this year, but my dream is to qualify for Kona, even if it takes a few years. I might also try riding the Epic again.” And his fund-raising efforts for charity will also continue, even if he is no longer riding and running for the Unogwaja Light Fund. “I started my own charity a few years ago called Miles for Miracle Kids, when I did my first Ironman, so I’d like to get something like that going again, but I also want to keep the balance between giving back, and personal achievements and having fun.”

“That’s why I have so much respect for John and his Red Sock and Unogwaja initiatives. Anyone can start a charity to raise money for something, but to make sure it has a living legacy and to make it about more than just charity – about using what we do to empower the nation – and to bring a story to life and make it grow all over the world, that is why I’ve hung around so long. Unogwaja is not just a South African thing, it is made up of six or seven different nationalities at any given time on the road, and it just shows that people believe in what we are doing. That’s really special.”

To learn more about the Unogwaja Challenge and to support Miguel and his fellow rider-runners, go to http://unogwaja.com

Can you imagine running some 400km non-stop over five days, on some of the gnarliest trails, fighting extreme fatigue and muscle soreness much of the way? Well, that’s what it takes to run the Munga Trail Run, and we caught up with the winner of the inaugural race, Bennie Roux, to find out more about the experience. – By Brendon Lowson

From the 19th to the 24th of April, many trail running fans across South Africa were glued to their computers and cell phones, tracking runners and following the updates posted on social media as a tiny group of 23 ‘guinea pigs’ took on the inaugural running of the new Munga Trail Run. This 400km self-supported, single-stage race from Belfast to the rim of the Blyde River Canyon in Mpumalanga was the brainchild of Alex Harris and Erik Vermeulen, and it took them 12 months to put the whole thing together, plotting a route that would involve only about 20km of tar, with some 200km of single-track through virgin grassland and forests, and the rest made up of forestry tracks and gravel roads.

And then they gave runners a 120-hour cut-off, which meant that runners needed to cover on average 80km a day for five days in a row! Think about it… that’s pretty much running five Comrades Marathons on five consecutive days. No wonder Alex and Erik dubbed their new event the “Toughest Race on Earth!” But tough is a word that gets South African trail runners going, and none more so than Bennie Roux.

Running Latecomer

Growing up in the Free State, the 39-year-old father of three from Pretoria says that while he played rugby, soccer and cricket at school, he was never really keen on any of these sports. Instead, he found himself drawn to mountain biking and swimming, preferring the individual endurance sports, but running was not his thing as yet. That changed when his brother ran the Comrades Marathon. “I only started running to prove to my older brother that I was a better Comrades runner,” he jokes. He completed his first Comrades in 2000, finishing in a time of 10 hours 21 minutes, and the running bug had bitten.

Last year he ran his 10th Comrades, posting his best time of 6:53:55 on the Down course to go with his 7:05:38 PB on the Up course of the previous year. However, as impressive as his road running credentials are, it is as a trail runner that Bennie has gained the most attention. As he says, “I became addicted to trail running, and as my running improved, I decided I wanted to become famous for winning races, but for a while my most famous trail running moment was getting stuck on a mountain ledge during a race, waiting for four hours to be rescued, and making the front page of all the major newspapers!”

That was in the 2013 Brauhaus 45km Trail Run near Rustenburg, which Bennie was leading at the time when he and the second-placed runner took a wrong turn. Having lost the trail, they attempted to climb down a kloof by jumping from ledge to ledge, and both got stuck, needing to be rescued later by the Mountain Club of SA. While it was a scary experience for him, due to having a “healthy respect for heights,” Bennie did not let it stop him from returning to the trails, but it does mean that the first piece of advice he gives to beginner trail runners is always “Never jump when lost on a mountain!”

Winning Ways

Since then Bennie has become used to the top step of the podium – he won the 2014 Namaqua 120km four-day trail race, the 2014 and 2015 Wolkberg 60km two-day trail race, and the 2016 Addo 168km trail race, amongst others – but the Munga was on another level completely. When the race started, the field of 23 initially stuck together, since nobody seemed quite sure how best to approach the daunting task ahead, but by the 25km mark, Bennie had decided that it was time to go for it. By the time he reached race village three at 250km, he had built a commanding lead of nearly six hours, while behind him the battle for second was now between two women, Nicky Booyens and Tatum Prins.

But while Bennie seemed to be cruising, he did have a few problems along the way. “Being unfamiliar with races this long, I completely forgot to charge my electronics. I ended up in a forest one night, when there was almost no moon, and the unmarked trail was extremely difficult to pick out. Suddenly, I realised my GPS was almost flat and I was only carrying one spare battery! I got a huge fright, because if I’d lost power then I would never have found the trail again.”

Another night he lost all sense of direction in tall grass at the bottom of a valley. “The grass was so thick, and it was very disorientating. Eventually I came out the other side and saw the trail markers, and I was so pleased with myself, until about 300 metres later when I looked at my GPS and realised I was running back along my old path, in the wrong direction! My only choice was to turn around and go through it all again.”

Navigationally Challenged

While those incidents were mildly amusing, they allowed Nicky to close the gap and she ran with Bennie for quite some way of the race. Bennie eventually pulled clear again, but then made a serious navigation error just 24km from the finish, which allowed Nicky to take the lead. “It couldn’t have happened at a more critical time,” he says. “At first, I just thought my GPS was being funny and would auto-correct, but it didn’t, and I ended up having to run hard for an extra 14km to make up for that mistake.” In the end, he only just snuck back into the lead, coming home first in 101 hours and 25 minutes, with Nicky finishing just two minutes later!

Looking back on his epic run, Bennie can joke about the lessons he learnt along the way. “Realising that I couldn’t fully plan my run, I decided to just take it as it comes and adapt. For example, I slept when I needed to, and when I was feeling good, I just kept moving. Still, I’m surprised how well my race went – at no stage did I feel any pressure on myself, except for that last section just before finishing – but next time I will definitely pack more batteries and a good powerbank or two… because if it’s not on Strava, it didn’t happen!”

Having made the finals in the 3000m steeple-chase at the African Track and Field Championships last year but then missing the Rio Olympic Games qualifying standard by just one second, three-time SA steeple-chase champion and also former SA 1500m and Cross-Country champ Rantso Mokopane has dug still deeper this year in his quest for international success on the track. – By Reggie Hufkie

It’s turning into quite a 2017 season for 24-year-old Rantso Mokopane. Under the watchful eye of his new coach, Spring Phakhati, he has clocked 14:05.04 in the 5000m, 8:05.16 in the 3000m, 3:38.83 for 1500m, and 8:34.47 in his focus event, the 3000m steeple-chase. These were, at the time of writing, the best inland times run in SA for all these distances, and in April he showcased his great form by bagging three medals (two gold and one silver) at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Track and Field Championships in Cape Town.

It is not the amount of medals, but rather how he earned them that caught the attention: On day one of the USSA Champs Rantso won the men’s 1500m and just 30 minutes later added a second gold by winning the 3000m steeple-chase. Then the following day he finished second in the 5000m, only just narrowly missing the World Student Games qualifying mark for that event.

The three medals point to the fact that all the hard work in training is paying off as Rantso chases his goals for 2017 and beyond. “I want to stay as healthy as I can so that I can fight for a position in London come August. The dream is to successfully contest the men’s 3000m steeple-chase in Taipei, China at the World Student Games later this year, and qualify for the World Champs in London. After that, I am working towards the 2018 Commonwealth Games final, and as for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, I want to compete in two events and come back with a medal in one!”

With that all said, in his typically humble way Rantso adds that medals are not the main focus for him: “Obviously you would think gold medals, and travelling to fancy places, are the highlights for me… but no, my highlights are those moments where I can inspire an African child to be better. I like to help where I am most needed, where I can raise kids’ spirits and perceptions, so that they can also become successful like me, or hopefully even better.”

RUNNER AT HEART

Born in Saaiplaas, Virginia, a small town in the heart of the Free State, Rantso was always running. Despite contracting TB and pneumonia at the age of four, which meant he was not allowed to engage in any physical activities, as it would place stress on his cardiovascular system, the youngster just would not stop running. “If it was not running to the Spaza shop for my parents, it was running to school,” he says. Then, when he moved up to Hentie Cilliers High School in grade eight, his life changed forever. It was here that athletics coach and teacher Mrs van Graan really ignited Rantso’s passion to run.

“I was always a runner at heart, but this time it wasn’t just merely running, but running with purpose and having a purpose-driven life,” he says. “I liked my high school, because the teachers were like mothers and fathers who pushed me hard in class to pass, and who also supported me on the oval track to raise the name of the school high, and this helped me balance everything, from school to athletics to life’s issues.”

ACADEMIC ENDEAVOUR

After school Rantso moved to Potchefstroom to study at the North West University, and he has gone on to earn a degree in health science as well as a post-graduate degree in business – and he has achieved that in the ‘normal time,’ in spite of spending on average three months of each year abroad for athletics in the last few years. Ironically, he describes himself as being “not so academic,” but his can-do attitude has ensured academic success to go with his athletic success.

“I do my academics in silence and run aloud, but if these qualifications could speak, they would tell you of the many nights where my body was tired from doing lactic sessions, gym and runs, but I still worked on academics. Or the times when I was not present in class, but managed to submit and be graded like a normal student… so these qualifications mean a lot to me,” says Rantso.

And he is in good company in Potchefstroom, sharing the same gymnasium facilities at NWU with the likes of Olympians Caster Semenya and Elroy Gelant, and he says being part of this group definitely helps spur him on. “I take my motivation from people who have done or accomplished something – it might be spiritually, in sport, or academically. I believe the human species is complex and we need different stimulation.”