Author: Modern Athlete

With camera in hand, Hassiem Fisher loves exploring the trails around Cape Town and revelling in the joy that running gives him, but it wasn’t so long ago that he was not able to run at all. – BY PJ MOSES

Hassiem loved his running when he was growing up. As in, really loved it. “I would easily run from our house in the Athlone area to Cape Town just for the fun of it,” he says, followed by one of his trademark beaming smiles. But then the twinkle in his eye disappears momentarily as he recounts how severe asthma brought his running to an end just two years after he finished school. “My running days seemed to be over and it depressed me,” he admits.

As the years went by, the former high school track star had to be content with rather playing golf when he wasn’t throwing himself into his work. “I became a bit of a workaholic, but that love of running was always there. My kids laughed at me in later years when I would hoot at runners in the road and cheer them on. I just missed being one of those people.” Then the twinkle returns to his eye as he tells how years later, he replaced his regular asthma medicine and suddenly found that he was able to run again. “I was so happy to be running again that I used to take turns on all the treadmills at my gym, because you could only run on each one for twenty minutes at a time!”

In August 2014 he joined the Itheko AC running club, and with guidance from senior members like Farouk Meyer and Nezaam Mohammed, he threw himself back into the world of running with renewed gusto. “By the end of 2015 I was determined to qualify for the Two Oceans and Comrades, which I did at the Winelands Marathon, after failing at the Cape Town Marathon. I was very fortunate that my wife Zubeida was very supportive and would accompany me to races and to training runs. Without her help I would not have been able to chase my running dreams. I also decided to run Oceans and Comrades in memory of my parents, because it was my Dad who told me that I could do these races one day when we watched it on the telly.”

A WHOLE NEW WORLD
With the two legendary ultras in the bag, Hassiem shifted his focus to trail after clubmates Ashraf and Roldah Orrie introduced him to off-road racing. “I grew up looking at that big mountain from the Cape Flats, and it was always a strange and almost scary place, but after giving trail a go at the Spur series, I didn’t hesitate to explore more.” That saw him turn 2017 into the year of ticking off one trail running bucket list item after another, including the three-day AfricanX Trailrun, the 50km Three Peaks Challenge, and the Ultra Trail Cape Town 65km. This year he has already added a second AfricanX medal, and one from the Bastille race in Franschhoek, and in August he ran more than half of the gruelling 80km PufFer while seconding his friend Ashraf Mallick.

He has also become quite adept at capturing all his adventures and sharing the pics on social media. “When I was competing back in high school, there were no photographers to capture my triumphs, and I want to be the one now who does that for me, and for many others who share this joy of running with me. I find that social media is the perfect platform for sharing your running passion. It gives you the opportunity to show people that there is more to life than sitting on a couch, plus I get a chance to highlight the beauty of Cape Town.”

A REASON TO RUN
A deeply spiritual man, Hassiem tries to give back as much as he can to worthy causes and uses his running as a way to raise awareness and much-needed funds for charity initiatives like the Muscular Dystrophy Foundation. Recently he also signed on as a Running4Pads ambassador, to help supply sanitary pads to underprivileged schoolgirls. “As a family man, it is important to get involved in issues that affect society, and not just focus on your own life. Our ability to run and our health is bestowed on us by the grace of the Creator, so using these blessings to do some good is the least I can do.”

He also says that the running community has become a big part of his life and he loves being surrounded by so many people who add value to it. “We all have a reason why we started running, but for many other people it is easier to make an excuse and not even try. My advice is to go and join a club or a training group today, and overcome that fear of change, because running will take you to a happy place, and make you a more balanced person capable of doing amazing things. My belief is that you must live for today, because ‘Yesterday is history and tomorrow is somebody else’s worry.’

IMAGES: Hassiem Fisher

They may still be young, but Nix, Rylee and Tao Challenor are definitely following in the footsteps of their running mom, Jenna Challenor. – BY SEAN FALCONER

When 11-year-old Rylee Challenor hit the track at the Totalsports Women’s Race 5km in Durban in July, the commentator couldn’t refrain from announcing, “Here comes our winner, and she isn’t even as tall as the fencing!” She crossed the line in a scintillating 20:40, watched all the way by her proud mom, Jenna, who won the 10km race here in 2013, and since then has run for SA in the World Half Marathon Champs as well as finished runner-up in the 2017 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon. Taking it all in her stride, Rylee says she just focused on having fun in only her third ever 5km race.

“Before I ran, my mom told me it’s an adults race, so just go have fun. I had never run a big road race before, so I was very nervous. When I started I was running with my sister Nicky until she saw one of the girls who races me at cross country. She encouraged me to leave her and go race, and as I did she shouted, “Go, Rylee, go,” and I felt so happy to have my big sister there for me. I was in second place behind an under-15 girl until 4km, where I saw my mom and dad, and then went into first place. When I finished I had my first interview while my mom jumped over the fence to hug me.”

When 13-year-old Nicky came in a few minutes later, Rylee was waiting on the line, which her older sister really appreciated: “It made me feel so happy and so proud of Rylee’s achievement. I loved it when she hugged me as I finished the race.” Meanwhile, Jenna says she and husband Brett were surprised to see Rylee win. “We don’t let her run this distance often, so she really shocked us, but it’s back to cross country and track for her now. I believe that at their age less is more.”

TALENTED TRIO
The three Challenor girls have clearly inherited some serious sporting genes from their parents, both of whom are active runners as well as being former lifesaving internationals. Nicky has provincial colours in biathle, medalled at SA Lifesaving Champs, and is excelling at swimming, hockey, water polo and cross country. Rylee has won most of her cross country races over the last three years, also won the Long Run event at SA Lifesaving Champs, and was selected to represent SA in the USA at the Biathle World Champs.

Although just six, Tao is already showing signs of sporting talent, says Jenna. “Earlier this year, when the older girls were getting their gear ready for a Mudman triathlon, she asked to do the Mudskipper race. Brett lined up with her amongst all the other parents, only to be told, ‘I’m good, Dad, you can wait over there.’ I expected her to come tootling in last, so almost fell over when she finished the bike leg in second behind a boy and proceeded to charge past him into first place!”

FULL SPORTING CALENDAR
Nix and Rylee both finished second in their age groups at their recent district cross country champs, thus qualifying for the KZN provincial champs in Newcastle in early September, which Nix is particularly happy about. “I was determined to make the district team this year, so that I could go with Rylee to the KZN champs – and it’s on my 14th birthday, too!” This will also make it easy for Brett and Jenna to support both girls, but that is not always possible, as was the case in July. “It hadn’t happened before, but I suspect it may happen more now,” says Jenna.

“Rylee had a sports day in Durban and Nix had district cross country champs in Pietermaritzburg on the same day, so I asked the girls who they wanted to come to their races. Nix said she didn’t mind, and Rylee suggested we both go watch Nix, as we had watched her race a few days before. I just couldn’t leave her with no-one at her sports day, so we decided Brett would go watch Nix, seeing that he works in Pinetown, and I would watch Rylee. He was given strict instructions to film and photograph her race, which he sent to me straight away, and I did the same for Rylee’s race, so it worked out fine in the end.”

Looking ahead, Nix says she just loves running for fun, but Rylee has already decided that she would like to become a pro athlete. “One of my dreams is to run for South Africa, like my mom. She really inspires me and makes me want to run more.” Meanwhile, Jenna has just started running again after a tibial stress fracture injury and says she can’t wait to get back to full training. “This injury has made me realise how much I love running, and that’s why my heart bursts with pride at my girls, not just because they are doing so well, but more because of how much they love running. I really believe that at their age it’s all about fun.”

IMAGES: Graham TopPhoto & Jenna Challenor

When I first started out in the workforce many years ago, I got the worst advice ever. I was told that you don’t need to work hard if you can work smart. In other words, find the easiest way to do things. For years I heard that sentiment repeated by various people, but I never really bought into the concept… I just wasn’t brave enough to say what I really thought, because I feared being the one outlier who didn’t fit with the narrative.

Many of the people I meet today, even in the running world, still dish out this pearl of societal wisdom, but they don’t realise that they are just perpetuating the common lie. I’ve seen through the veil, and I’ve decided to call time on this notion. I don’t know which fool first started this idea, but I believe that hard work does indeed pay handsome dividends. I am not saying you should not be smart about how you work, take note, I am saying do not be lazy.

We’ve become lazy in the way we go about things. I see it in people’s everyday lives – and in the way they approach their training – always looking for the most comfortable and convenient solution to their problems. They want a quick fix for this and a pill for that, but they do not want to sweat for it… unless it is in a nice sauna at a luxurious spa, with a masseuse waiting to help relieve them of the knots of daily stress in their bodies. Don’t get me wrong, there is nothing wrong with spoiling yourself occasionally, but you must admit that we have become soft.

I should have listened to my grandmother instead, because to her generation nothing worthwhile ever came easy. If you wanted something, you needed to put in the hard work to attain it. No shortcuts in their book, the long road was where it was at. You used pain and suffering as your teachers, and learnt from making mistakes, not by avoiding them. So, you want a good mantra? Climb the mountain to appreciate the view, don’t take the cable car unless you absolutely need to.

About the Author: PJ Moses is a former Cape Flats gangster who took up running, and writing about it, when he turned his back on that dangerous lifestyle in order to set a better example for his two young sons.

IMAGES: Courtesy Carbineers WP

With a possible win in the 2018 Spar Women’s Challenge Series Grand Prix on the horizon, Glenrose Xaba has been putting her incredible form of 2018 to good use! – BY MANFRED SEIDLER

While being naturally quiet and often times appearing shy, there is steel in the diminutive figure of Glenrose Xaba, and her racing results in 2018 are evidence of that. On the road, she finished second in the first three Spar Women’s Challenge 10km races in Cape Town, PE and Durban, then won the fourth leg in Pretoria, catapulting her to the top of the leaderboard, with two races remaining. She also won the Totalsports Women’s 10km Durban, and placed second in the Totalsports Women’s 10km Johannesburg.

Unfortunately, she was disqualified along with four other athletes in the Pietermaritzburg leg of the Spar series in August after they mistakenly followed the lead car instead of the lead bicycle around a section where the car could not go, and thus ran the wrong, short course. This has thrown the Grand Prix competition wide open with one race to go in Johannesburg in October, so there will be everything to race for then. Meanwhile, Glenrose is quietly pursuing her goal of dominating the 10km on the road.

“I am only 23 and will not attempt a half marathon until I am 27. I may do the occasional 15km, but my focus is cross country and the 10km,” she says. “I will do the occasional track event, but there are not really many track races I can run. So the goal for this year is winning the Spar Grand Prix Series, and I want to break my PB of 33:21 at the FNB Durban 10km CITYSURFRUN in October. Hopefully there I can get under 33 minutes.”

TALENT SPOTTED
Glenrose has been bubbling just under the proverbial surface for the last few years, and considers 2018 her big breakthrough. “This year has been good. I have been able to run so well because of my foundation of 2017, where I was able to do a good base after coming off an injury. Also joining Michael Seme’s training group in 2016 made a big difference.”

She met Michael while competing in Mpumalanga. “He convinced me to come to Pretoria and join his group after finishing matric in 2015. He said I had potential and would like to coach me, so I moved. I trained with guys most of the time, which made a big difference, and I am now the only woman in the group, which is led by Lesego (Stephen Mokoka). Michael left us in November 2017 to take up a contract in KZN, but he still sends us our programme, and Violet (Raseboya – the wife of Caster Semenya) helps with overseeing the training sessions for me.”

BREAKTHROUGH BEGINS
In February this year, Glenrose really made the middle distance community in South Africa sit up and take notice when she clocked an astonishing 32:59.05 in the 10,000m at the Athletics Gauteng North Championships. She covered the 25 laps at an average pace of 79sec/lap, or 3:30/km, for the further-fastest time by a South African woman – only Elana Meyer (SA Record 30:52.51), Colleen De Reuck (31:56.00) and Dominique Scott (31:51.47) have ever gone faster.

While this performance was run in a mixed race featuring both men and women, this should not detract from the performance itself, but Glenrose herself says she had not expected to break 33 minutes on the track so soon. “I knew I was in shape after some of my time trials, but I didn’t expect such a good time.” The following day, she time-trialed to a win in the 5000m as well, clocking 16:39.44, a mere four seconds off her PB of 16:35.36.

Meanwhile, she was also continuing to do well in cross country. “I did not compete at the SA Track Champs as I was in Algeria competing at the Africa Cross Country Championships. It did not go as well there as I had hoped, though, as I didn’t have the correct shoes.” She finished 20th and second South African, but that may have just been a blip on the radar for her, because she clearly has an affinity for the off road discipline. She won the SA Junior title in 2011 and two years later the SA Senior title. In 2014 Glenrose had to settle for fifth place at the SA’s, but went on to win the trials in 2015, was second again in 2016 and then won another title in 2017.

LOOKING AHEAD
She may be known as a runner, but Glenrose is not just focused on running and is already thinking about long-term planning. “I need something for when my running career is over, so I am studying electrical engineering at Mamelodi Tshwane College. I am in my third and final year, and once I have completed this year, I will look to further my studies.” Meanwhile, all indications are that given the right opportunities and support, Glenrose could still do way better than her current 10,000m and 10km bests. The talent is there to be used.

IMAGES: Reg Caldecott & Rogan Ward

With two age group World Championship titles to her name, young hurdler Zeney van der Walt has already started making her presence felt in the senior ranks. – BY SEAN FALCONER

In any hurdles event, it pays to have a never-say-die attitude, because the technical nature of hurdling can throw up some unexpected results. For example, last July at the 2017 World Under-18 Champs in Nairobi, Kenya, Jamaica’s Sanique Walker entered the home straight with a massive lead in the final of the Girls 400m hurdles and looked to have the World Title sown up… until she hit the last hurdle and stumbled. That allowed second-placed Zeney van der Walt of South Africa to close the gap and sneak the win by just 0.04 seconds in 58.23. “I didn’t expect to win, I just kept on pushing till the end because I still had the energy,” she says.

Almost exactly a year later, having recently turned 18 in May, Zeney lined up at the World Under-20 Champs in Tampere, Finland, winning her qualifying heat comfortably in 57.78, the only athlete to dip under 58 seconds in the heats as she held back and just made sure of automatic qualification for the final. Two days later in the final, in spite of wet conditions and even though she was the youngest in the race, she showed her true speed as she came home in 55.34, finishing well clear of another Jamaican, Shiann Salmon, who clocked 56.11.

That made Zeney a double World Champion, something she still finds hard to believe. “It was incredible to win in Finland, but I think it still has not really sunk in that I won two World Champs. Last year’s win was a bit of surprise, but this year it was a totally different race. I had the fastest time in the field this year, so I knew I had a chance to win. Due to being Under-18 World Champ, I did feel a bit of pressure, but I didn’t let it get to me. When I went down in my blocks, I wanted to go for the win!”

STEADY RISE
Zeney says she fell in love with the sport in primary school, where she ran the hurdles for the first time in grade four, while also competing in the short hurdles and the 400m straight, but the single-lap hurdles became her focus – and success has followed. In Grade 9 she won the SA Sub-youth Title for the 300m hurdles, followed a year later by the SA Youth Title for 400m hurdles. In Grade 11 she ‘doubled’ by winning the SA Youth Titles for both the 400m hurdles and 400m straight, clocking 57.94 in the hurdles final to narrowly miss 2014 Olympic Youth Games Champion Gezelle Magerman’s SA Youth Record by just 0.03 seconds, and then she followed that up with the Under-18 World Title.

This year has been even better! She won the SA Under-20 title and then followed that up with a second place at the SA Senior Champs, only just losing out to Olympian Wenda Nel in the final. Wenda clocked 55:01 to Zeney’s 55:05, with the youngster only losing out after a slight stumble at the final hurdle, but her time was good enough to move her up to fourth place on the South African senior all-time list, and to finally beat Myrtle Bothma’s 35-year-old SA Junior Record (55.74). Afterwards, Wenda admitted that Zeney had really pushed her to the limit: “This was one of my toughest races, but also one of the most exciting. To be challenged the way Zeney did forced me out of my comfort zone.”

In turn, Zeney gave credit to Wenda for helping her to run so well. “Last year I took on the seniors at SA Champs for the first time and finished third, so second this year was still better, and to hear Wenda say it was one of her hardest SA Champs wins was a real compliment. Wenda helped me run that time, and then after the race, when she was supposed to get the attention of the crowd, she asked them to give me round of applause instead. That was an unbelievable privilege.”

TAKING ON THE WORLD
That performance set the scene for Zeney’s dominant World Champs run in Finland, and now the youngster is looking forward to representing her country again in the future. Currently in her Matric year at Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool in Pretoria, she is planning to study at the University of Pretoria next year, while focusing on qualifying for the 2019 World Champs in Doha, followed by the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. “I don’t focus that much on the times I run, and while I have a specific target time in the back of my head, I just try to do my best at the moment.”

Fortunately, her high school coach, Maritza Coetzee, will also be moving to Tuks next year, so their successful relationship is set to continue, and overall, Zeney says she is just enjoying her athletics. “We have a great SA team at the moment, all supporting each other, and it’s wonderful to have the country behind us as well. It’s also great to see our juniors achieving as much as the seniors, and it’s just a great time for South African athletics.”

IMAGES: Roger Sedres/IMAGE SA

His Comrades record lists nine successful finishes, and nearly as many DNFs, but Eugene Lekay says that he will keep going back until he gets his Green Number. In the meantime, he just wants to enjoy his running as much as he always has. – BY PJ MOSES

When Eugene earned his ninth Comrades medal in 2012, he thought his permanent number was surely in the bag, but six years later that 10th medal is still eluding him. “I thought when I got my first medal that I would just do Comrades eleven times and then move on to something else, but it seems that fate has other ideas,” he says ruefully. “I’ve now had 16 Comrades starts, but still only nine finishes – it is frustrating, but I won’t quit until I achieve my goal.”

Eugene’s long fascination with Comrades was born from watching it on his neighbour’s TV when he was young. “We had to pay fifty cents to watch it because they were the only ones with a television in our street. I was enthralled by the idea of the race and the way it played out.” Thus the Comrades seed was planted, but it would take years to grow, and in between Eugene finished school and then studied teaching, while also being very involved with struggle politics and anti-apartheid activism. Running very much took a backseat.

“By the time I started teaching in 1987, the only involvement I had in sport was as a technical official for the school athletics. I only started running eleven years later in 1998, when I helped to get Bonteheuwel Athletic Club off the ground.” He explains that one of the main reasons they started the club was to keep the kids in their community active after school, and throughout the year. “It is very important, especially in the poorer communities, to encourage individual sport, which gives the kids a sense of self-worth and improves their quality of life with every step they take. Unfortunately, it is hard to keep the kids interested in running, because team sports like soccer and rugby often take precedence in terms of opportunities that can in turn open doors for them to study further, or even follow a career in those fields.”

Bitten Again by the Bug
Even though he joined the club with the main goal of encouraging others to run, Eugene soon found himself drawn to the sport. Within the first two weeks of starting to run, he had completed a 5km, a 30km and a marathon… The bug had bitten him hard! “After qualifying successfully for the Two Oceans and Comrades ultra-marathons, I added the Hewat 100 Mile race to that potent mix. My second year of running in 1999 was even busier, and the longer the distance, the more it pulled me toward doing it.”

He was not only the first runner to represent Bonteheuwel AC at Comrades in 1999, he was the only member in the race. “It became very lonely without any support from clubmates, so I decided to change clubs and joined Easterns AC in 2003. After a few years there I drifted a bit, but then I joined Brackenfell AC and stayed with them for a good 10 years from 2007 to 2017. Recently I decided it was time for a new home, and I moved over to the Carbineers, where I found a home filled with likeminded individuals who are encouraging and supportive of this next phase in my running journey.”

He admits he has never been the most disciplined when it comes to following a training programme, and thus depends heavily on his ability to not let the pain or discomfort of the long run get to him. “My mental strength is what has kept me going through many ultras when other faster athletes had long given up and called it quits. Running long distances is therapy for me. It makes me forget about the everyday worries and is a great way to relieve stress.”

On a related note, Eugene thinks that newbie runners often make things too complicated and should rather focus on a more simplistic approach to the sport. “To run, you just need a proper pair of shoes and the right mindset to get you through races. Clubs need to teach their newer members that running alone is to your benefit as a runner, and builds the character that is needed when things are not going your way. Also, running must not become an obligation, but instead you have to love it, because if you don’t then you’ll lose your passion for it. Try to always keep a healthy balance between running and your life outside of running.”

Interesting Adventures
Eugene’s 20-year running career has included quite a few adventures along the way, from sleeping in a police station with a giant teddy bear as a pillow the night before a race, to boarding a bus to Durban for the Comrades without a place to stay once there, but finding a spot as the bus pulled out of Cape Town. “I don’t believe that anything should stand in your way when you want to do something, there is always a way to achieve your goals. Just like running, you need to keep going and never quit.”

“I remember in 2007 I ran the Two Oceans Ultra with no sleep, because I was busy laying a floor in my house, and in the wrong shoes. Instead of road shoes I had a pair of trail shoes on, and they were very hard on your feet when you ran on the road. By the halfway mark I was close to quitting, but a lovely lady at the side of the road offered me some Coca Cola and salt to keep me going. I finished off her whole 1.5-litre right then and there, and chucking the salt in the drink gave me all the energy I needed to get myself to the finish. I made it across the line with ten minutes left on the clock.”

Beside his goal for a tenth Comrades medal, Eugene also wants to run a marathon in every province of South Africa, even if he can only do one province a year. “I started this year by doing the Meerkat Marathon in the Northern Cape. I love the idea of travelling for more races, and this is a perfect reason to do so. Other than the marathons, there is also the Washie 100 Miler in the Eastern Cape that is on my bucket list. I have heard only good things about this tough race, and would love to complete it at least once.”

However, more important than medals or ticking off races for this veteran of the road is the bond that he has built with many running friends through decades of sharing the roads. “We encourage each other and always look forward to spotting familiar faces at various events. It feels like we are the last of a vanishing breed and the sense of loss is felt harder every time that I hear somebody has passed on to the big ultra in the sky. At 54, I still feel that I have a few good years of adventure left, and having retired from full time teaching gives my wife Rozetta and I the freedom to plan our travels better. As long as I can run, I will keep entering and keep doing what I love.” And chasing that elusive Green Number, no doubt.

IMAGES: Bridget Linderoth, Jetline Action Photo, Moegsien Ebrahim & Mogamat Shamieg Allie

It takes a special type of athlete to race flat-out in five separate endurance sports events in seven days, but that’s what the annual Momentum BIG5 Challenge demands, and former pro triathlete Vicky van der Merwe is a master at it. – BY SEAN FALCONER

The Momentum BIG5 Challenge forms part of the annual Pick n Pay Knysna Oyster Festival in the first week of July, and athletes must complete the Knysna Cycle Tour 80km MTB, the Knysna Lagoon Mile Swim, the Featherbed 15km Trail Run, the MTBX Cyclo-Cross, and the Knysna Half Marathon, with the smallest accumulated time determining the winners. It’s a grueling multisport event that only a few hundred athletes are able to take on, and one of the best is 28-year-old Stellenbosch-based Vicky van der Merwe. Having won the title in 2017, she retained the title by coming home in an accumulated time of 8:20:54, ahead of second-placed Fienie Barnard (8:34:23).

In the first event, the MTB, strong rider Fienie established a significant lead as Vicky finished 10th overall and second of the Big5 entrants, but Vicky then made up time by winning the trail run overall and finishing second overall in the swim and MTBX (again behind Fienie). “The 80km MTB is always the toughest for me, as there are other girls who are much stronger on the bike, so I was pleased to finish 10 minutes faster than last year. My MTBX race was also faster,” says Vicky.

That saw her line up for the final event, the half marathon, with a seven-minute lead, and she could therefore run a fairly relaxed race, in stark contrast to 2017. “Last year I was only lying fourth going into the run, with a massive deficit of nearly 20 minutes to first place in the Big5, so I had to run really hard to win the title.” Nevertheless, she still won the half marathon overall and took the BIG5 by nearly 14 minutes. “Overall, it was an awesome, challenging week, and topping it off with a win in the half marathon was great. The thing about the BIG5 is that you are never certain of a win until the last day, as anything can go wrong, and you have to pace yourself.”

Tri Success
Vicky was a strong swimmer in primary school, then took up running when she began high school in Stellenbosch. Soon she was talked into giving triathlon a try, and success followed. “I won the Western Province Champs when I was 15, then went to the SA Champs and came out of the water second, but finished the bike leg stone last. I ran like crazy and caught them all again to finish second in the under-23 category.” That saw her selected for the SA team for the World Champs in Japan, where she finished 60th. “I had a good swim and run, but again got dropped on the bike, and I realised I needed to work on my bike. After working with a cycling coach in Germany, I finished 14th at the next World Champs, in Switzerland.”

After claiming three junior World Titles in biathle, qualifying for five consecutive World Triathlon Championships as well as racing on the international pro circuit, Vicky’s tri career was unfortunately disrupted for several frustrating years by stress fractures in the shin and the hip as well as glandular fever. In spite of successful hip surgery in 2014, she is no longer racing professionally, but hasn’t lost her competitive nature. “Triathlon is still my focus, but I select my races carefully, and the professional racing phase of my career is now behind me. I run half as much as I used to, doing more quality than quantity, and more gym work, and I believe I have now found what works for me, because I am actually racing better now!”

Coach Vicky
These days Vicky is perhaps better known as a coach, thanks to the work she is doing with her Stellenbosch Triathlon Squad. “When I came home after competing on the world circuit, I had to decide between going into law, which I had studied, or continuing in triathlon. I had such a great support structure here in Stellenbosch when I began my tri career, so I decided to create a structure to help others to achieve their goals, and in November 2014 I began with just 15 athletes, but it quickly grew. I’d done a few coaching courses, but had also learnt a lot from my high performance background, and could apply that knowledge and experience.”

“We are now about 200 athletes, ranging from World Champions Flora Duffy and Brad Weiss to complete beginners, with 17 training sessions a week, including lunchtime swim and run groups, and a junior group just starting up. I now have Cobus Fourie working with me, and another coach coming on board soon, and the focus is on group work, but athletes can ask for personalised programmes. Stellenbosch provides such a great training environment, and I have received great support from the sporting community, so this is a very rewarding job, and I love what I do!”

To Find out more about Vicky's tri squad, go to https://triathlonsquad.co.za

IMAGES: Matthew Du Toit & David Papenfus

You’ll find Madumetja Donald Mathipa behind the microphone at many races in the Gauteng area, greeting you the minute he sees you, whether you are a supporter or a runner, with something unique to say about each person, but while he loves doing race commentary, his real passion lies in his hometown race in Tembisa. – BY MANFRED SEIDLER

Donald is no slouch when it comes to running. He boasts a 10km PB of 30:38, has clocked 1:05:11 for the half marathon, and ran a 2:21:23 marathon. He has also earned silver medals in both his Old Mutual Two Oceans runs, with a best of 3:30:08 for 44th place in 2011, and earned a Comrades silver in 2015 for his 6:46:08 finish for 89th position. But it is as an announcer that many Gauteng runners know him.

He started his announcing ‘career’ in 2008 when he ran for the Powerade team managed by the late George Koertzen, who at the time was the foremost race announcer in Gauteng. “I was doing a course in communication science at UNISA and approached him, because I wanted to add to my skills. He asked when I was available and that was it,” recalls Donald. “I did my first stint at the start of the Vodacom Country Challenge and then he used me at more races. He also sent me to Swaziland so I can say I am an international race commentator!”

However, while Donald can be seen on the mic most weekends, this is not what he considers a career. “I love talking at races and have fun with the runners, but for me this is a sideline. I really want to see races in the townships grow and uplift the communities, in particular in Tembisa, where I have lived since 2009.”

The Dream
Donald originally hails from Limpopo, where he honed his early running career. “I was good over the shorter distances, up to the half marathon, but I did the longer stuff because that was the only way I could run full time. But my heart and my body are in the shorter distances.” He moved to the Kempton Park area to be able train at Esselen Park with the Nedbank Soweto team, including future Comrades winner Modibe Ludwick Mamabolo, but like so many promising athletes, Donald had to work to live and thus could not focus solely on running.

He also found that the mileage required to run Comrades as a contender did not agree with his body, and since he couldn’t earn a living just racing the shorter distances, he had to shelve his dream of being a professional athlete. Instead he ploughed all his energy into what was to eventually become the Tembisa Mile. “We do not have many well organised and supported races in the townships, but it is important that we do have events here, for a number of reasons. It brings the community together and they take ownership and take pride in it. It also opens up opportunities to the community either to run, or to get into organising events.”

The Mission
So Donald embarked on a journey in 2010 that changed his life, when he and a few others in Tembisa decided to put on a road race. “We started with an 8km and 3km race. We wanted a competitive race with medals and prize money in a township, but it wasn’t easy, we really struggled in the beginning, and so decided to change the 8km to a 5km in 2011. We had some leftover T-shirts from other races and used them as incentives, and some of the better runners came, but the masses didn’t get T-shirts, because we just did not have enough. So we thought, let’s do something unique, and in 2012 we introduced the mile, taking place after the 5km, because we want the runners to see our best athletes competing in the streets of Soweto.”

Over the years Donald has attracted the who’s who of South African middle distance running to his event. The first winner of the mile in 2012 was Dumisane Hlaselo, who has represented South Africa on numerous occasions, and a big breakthrough came in 2013. “Johan Cronje had just won the bronze medal in the 1500m at the World Championships in Moscow that year, and we got him to come and run in Tembisa. All of a sudden the media were interested and the other top runners wanted to race in our mile. Since then the mile has become a big event for us, and gives us good coverage.”

The mile was initially just run as a mass event; now there are categories for both senior and junior men and women, and a big coup was having Caster Semenya win in 2016. Meanwhile, the original 8km is now a 10km race and has seen the likes of multiple SA Champions Stephen Mokoka and Elroy Gelant race through the streets of Tembisa. It has been suggested to Donald that he add a half marathon, to further grow numbers, but he is loath to do this. “Since anyone can do the 10km race, that’s where we believe we can attract numbers. Also, we simply do not have the logistics for a 21km, and a 10km means we do not need to use the Metro for a longer period of time, nor inconvenience the Tembisa residents’ daily routine.”

He explains that the 10km starts at 7am and the first mile starting straight after the 8:45 cut-off, so they are finished by 10am. “The mile doesn’t impede traffic, so we are in no way disrupting the day to day ‘running’ of Tembisa. We do not want to be a nuisance to them, we want their support. The taxi associations also help us and do not interfere. Yes, there is always that one driver, but that happens everywhere. Local business helps with small things and the community love the race, so it has been good for us.”

The Challenge
However, it is not all plain sailing. Race organising costs big money. Metro services alone set the club back a whopping R45,000, and of course there is prize money, too. Then there are those who volunteer their time and need to be looked after. “Our volunteers are part of the community and we need to put something back into the community, so we need to find a way to show our appreciation. That can be money, T-shirts, food, or all of the above.” The race has come with other challenges too… Donald laughingly recollects how a resident forgot to close his gate on race day in 2013. “His dog came out and chased the runners. Maybe that is why Johan Cronje set a course record!”

Overall though, Donald says it is more than just about having a top notch event in the township. Currently, the Tembisa Athletics Club members do their track work on the clay track of the Tembisa High School. “One day we want to host an athletics meeting there, but we need to upgrade a few things, like toilets, parking, seating. We try set aside some of the money we raise from the race, but we also need money to help our runners get to races, so if we can turn this race into something bigger, then maybe we can achieve those objectives.”

True to his humble nature, Donald does not like the term Race Director. “No, no, I am the team leader, not a race director.” But he deserves huge credit for growing the race from a 400-entry fun run to a 2000-entry 10km race in seven years. Entries are now open for the 2018 race on 28 October, and it is sure to be another classic.

IMAGES: Jetline Action Photo, Manfred Seidler & courtesy Tembisa Mile