Category: Columns

Cecily Rootenberg is not your average 90-year-old… In fact, she is still putting in race walking performances that many a younger athlete would be proud of, and it’s her passion for walking that keeps her young! Roxanne Martin met her for tea and to hear her remarkable story.

When Cecily Rootenberg grew up in Johannesburg, she says walking was the order of the day. “When we were youngsters we walked everywhere, because when I grew up, Sandton was just a lot of farms,” she explains. “My holidays were spent on farms, where we walked all the time, going wherever we wanted to go, as long as we walked to get there.” She was always active and in her youth she played tennis and golf, but later golf became too expensive and tennis was no longer an option, and she wanted to remain active, so at 68 Cecily joined Run/Walk For Life in Parkmore, because she wanted a sport that rang true to her roots.

“I loved it,” says Cecily, who quickly became an enthusiastic racer, and her first event was the 1993 Joburg Big Walk 21km: “I did a very good time of two hours 52 minutes,” she says proudly. After that she was hooked, training three times a week and stepping up her distance. “I have always liked the long distance walks, so I did half marathons, then marathons and the ultras. No race was too big or too long, I wanted to do them all!” Looking back, she says her favourite event would have to be the Cape Times Big Walk 50km, which she has completed 16 times, bringing home 13 gold medals in her age category! “My best time was 7:13, which I did at age 72!”

Tough as Teak

In the early 90s Cecily twice took on the big challenge of completing the Guard Bank 90km Charity Walk, a tough two-day event that covered the Comrades Marathon route, but she loved every minute of it, and says her proudest moment was walking into the finish alongside nine-time Comrades Marathon winner Bruce Fordyce, who had found the challenge a lot harder than he thought it would be. “Bruce’s comment after the walk was that runners are people who never learnt to walk!” she laughingly recalls.

There have been other humorous moments out on the road, especially when people see Cecily’s age category tags pinned to her vest. Her son Rory walks most races with her, and she says he has a good laugh about people’s reactions to his mother. “He jokes with people that it’s not my age, it’s my speed limit,” says Cecily. “It’s really special to have him with me at races… When I get stuck going up the tough hills, he just gives me a little push and keeps me going.” It’s also in those tough moments that Cecily says she always thinks of a saying that her friends Joy and Debbie shared with her many years ago: “Lord, lift up my feet and I’ll put them down. I have said it a lot, especially when it’s tough.”

Star Attraction

Whenever Cecily does a race in Johannesburg, many people come up to her to simply tell her, “You’re my inspiration.” She says it is also incredibly special to get to a finish line and hear the people cheering her home, and she adds that the finish of the Soweto Marathon last year was one of the best. “So many people had come back to support those still finishing, and when I came into the final stretch, their cheers really just made the day all the more worthwhile. It was amazing!”

She takes it all in her stride, but sometimes something really special happens that stays with her long after race day, like last year’s Pirates Half Marathon. “Coming over Pirates hill, a man came up to me, saying, ‘I don’t believe it, I don’t believe it!’ To which I replied, ‘Believe it.’ He ran off and I thought nothing of it, and it’s only when he came back, gave something to Rory and mentioned flowers that I was intrigued as to what was going on. Well, he gave Rory R100 and told him to buy me flowers,” says Cecily with a smile, adding that not only did it make her day, but it strengthened her belief in the country and showed her once again how the sport of running transcends colour lines.

“When you are a runner or a walker, there is no colour, everyone is buddies,” says Cecily, adding that if everyone joined an athletic club and got running or walking, it would solve a lot of issues in this country. She says that’s a big reason why she loves the sport so much, because it brings everyone together, no matter age, race or class, and because she always feels at home.

When Hilton Murray pushed Anita Engelbrecht over the finish line of the 2016 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, to a standing ovation, she not only made history as the first participant in a jogger to complete the race, but they also ran into the hearts of everybody following the race. However, few people know just how many hills they had to overcome to reach that finish. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Hilton Murray stands out from the crowd. A running veteran with 12 Comrades and 11 Two Oceans medals to his name, the exceptionally tall 49-year-old and his Pikkie the Penguin cap shot to fame in 2014 when he completed the 10-10 Challenge, running from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg in nine days, covering the Comrades race distance each day, and then ran the race itself on day 10, all to raise funds for charity.

Anita Engelbrecht also stands out from the crowd, but for different reasons. The 22-year-old student doing her final year of a B.Com Management Accounting degree at Stellenbosch University was born 12-weeks premature and suffered a lack of oxygen at birth, which resulted in brain damage that affected her motor skills and eventually left her confined to a wheelchair. “It was actually a miracle that I survived,” she says, but then jokingly adds, “I guess I just couldn’t wait to get out – my curiosity got the better of me!”

Hilton first met Anita when she was five years old. He had grown up in the same Free State town as her dad, Jannie, and they reconnected when Hilton and his wife Lizette moved to Bellville in the Cape 17 years ago. Lizette and Anita’s mom Liezel soon became best friends, and the families grew very close, but Hilton admits that he underestimated Anita at first. “Something I haven’t told anybody until this interview is that when I first saw Anita at age five, she looked like a two-year-old, and I actually thought she was both physically and mentally disabled, but she soon put me right. She scored straight A’s in Matric and has been passing all her university subjects cum laude, and it’s thanks to her I have learnt not to judge a book by its cover.”

Born to Run

The whole Engelbrecht family is involved in running. Liezel ran her first Comrades in 2009, with Hilton and Lizette, and Jannie promised that if she finished it, he would also run it in 2010. She made it with four minutes to spare, and he duly joined them. Anita’s younger brother Janu also runs, up to the half marathon distance. “I grew up in a household of people who ran, so I believe it was always meant to be that I would experience it for myself,” says Anita, “but for 20 years I was mostly waiting at the finish line. I even gave myself the title of Manager of the Engelbrecht Team.”

That all changed in September last year, when Hilton phoned and asked if she wanted to do the Moore Stephens 10km Night Race in Stellenbosch with him. “I wanted Anita to be part of our running as well, so I got a jogger from Graeme Keehn, who had been running for several years with a young black guy from the Somerset-West area. He told me he had built a new jogger, so would give me his old one – all I had to do was brace the cracked handle. He also told me to check the wheel alignment, but I forgot, so every step of that first race I had to correct the pull to the left!”

And so an understandably thrilled Anita completed her first official running event, but she giggles as she says she wasn’t entirely honest with Hilton. “I actually had a test the next morning, but when Hilton phoned, I said yes immediately, because I wasn’t going to miss this opportunity. I never told him this until now, but I went to swot in the library the night after the race – and I still did well in that test.” Hilton just laughs and says “I wouldn’t have let her participate if I had known, because I studied accountancy and know how hard it is. But the first thing I said to her after we finished that 10km was that I thought we could go longer, maybe even as far as Two Oceans, or even Comrades. Her smile said it all.”

Going Longer

Just 11 days later they lined up in the Sanlam Cape Town City Marathon. “It was actually against the rules to run the marathon with a jogger, even though the website said wheelchair-friendly, but that was only supposed to be for the 10km event. So, the organisers said no, but after 10 minutes of deliberation they said yes. I wanted to do that marathon specifically because it is flat, and we ran comfortably with the five-hour bus.” Two more marathons followed, just to prove that they could do it, says Hilton. “I wanted to do a difficult route to see if I can manage hills in an ultra, because Anita weighs 43 kilograms, and with the jogger I am pushing 60 kilograms, so we went to run the Red Hill Marathon in January and finished about 25 minutes faster than Cape Town. Then at Peninsula the plan was to start at the front and do under four hours, but we got chased to the back by the race referees, because of safety concerns. That meant we wasted about 20 minutes, because we couldn’t pass anybody in the first four kays, but we still finished in 4:06.”

And so Hilton turned his attention to the ultras. “Having done three marathons, I thought we would get in easily for Two Oceans, but first I applied to Comrades, because I thought if they said yes, Oceans would as well. I wanted to follow the right procedure, so I applied via the Chaeli Foundation, but the CMA said no, although they did say their committee would look into it further, so we still got Anita a substitution entry just in case.” (At the time of going to print, Hilton and Anita had liteally just been told by the CMA that she and fellow wheelchair participant Chaeli Mycroft would be allowed to participate, subject to finer details still being worked out.)

“We also got Anita a substitution entry for Two Oceans, and a week before the race I wrote to the organisers to tell them of our plans. Two days later we got an official no, as it was against the race rules to run with a jogger, but we decided we were not going to just give up, and while negotiations were still underway, I published my request letter on Facebook. Honestly, there was no intention to play dirty, but the reaction from the public went ballistic, causing a publicity storm for the organisers. They eventually said yes after meeting with the City of Cape Town and finding solutions to the challenges our application posed, and on the Thursday, Two Oceans General Manager Carol Vosloo phoned Liezel to say we could run, but that we had to start 10 minutes before the main field, with our own referee and two policemen on motorbikes as escort. We were over the moon about that, because it meant starting with a clear road!”

The Big Day

So Hilton and Anita duly lined up for the Two Oceans, with Liezel, Lizette and Jannie as support in a car to meet them at various points. Just before they set off, Carol came over to wish them all the best. “She gave us each a hug and had a pic taken with us, so it was a real hand of friendship extended after a difficult week, and we really appreciated it,” says Anita. “It rained just before we started, so the road was deserted as we did the first three kilometres absolutely alone, with just the motorbikes – Hilton still joked that we must be running on the wrong day – but then the runners started passing us and most said something encouraging, as did the spectators later, and many knew our names thanks to Facebook.”

Anita’s face absolutely lights up as she describes running along Chapmans Peak: “I’ve done it three times in a buggy towed by a bike in the Cape Town Cycle Tour, but it is so much better on the run, because it’s slow enough to really enjoy the view.” Hilton, on the other hand, was finding the going a bit hard. “I started cramping on Chappies, not because of the weight of the jogger, but because I had not eaten properly the week leading up to the race, so I took out my salami and pink Steri Stumpies and stopped three times on Chappies for a snack break, but I didn’t tell Anita about my cramping.”

The long climb to Constantia Nek saw Hilton struggle even more. “I had to stop regularly to rest, and other runners kept offering to help, but I told them I need to do this myself to prove we can do it at Comrades. Fortunately, the support team met us at the crest of the hill and gave me a cold beer while Liezel checked on Anita. I put that beer away in less than 10 seconds, because I was in quite a state, but a kay further on I was fine. Just shows you the power of the mind.”

From there they had a smooth run home, passing many runners, and Anita said it actually went by too quickly. “The last 10 kays flew by and I was already getting sad that it was almost finished, so I joked that Hilton should just go past UCT and keep running to Bellville, because we were going so smoothly. But then we reached the finish, and it was just phenomenal!” Hilton adds, “I can’t actually remember the physical aspect of the last kilometre, because I was running on pure emotion. We had the SABC cameras on us and Harold Berman announced that we were coming in, and the crowd reaction was unbelievable!”

Hero Status

They crossed the line in 6:23 and the runners all around them started congratulating them. It then took them ages to move across the field to the Bellville club gazebo, because everybody wanted to say well done. Later that same day when photos of Hilton and Anita began appearing on Facebook, the reaction from the running community was incredible. “I am so happy that our run generated good publicity for disabled people, and I sent a message to Carol to say thank you. She replied to say she was glad I enjoyed my race,” says Anita. “What I really appreciate is that from saying no to saying yes, they really went the extra mile to allow us to run, so I want to thank them very much again.” Hilton adds that he is just as thankful, but also feels he needs to apologise for the way the approval was obtained. “I acknowledge that we put the Two Oceans organisers on the spot at short notice, and I want to publicly apologise for that. I stepped on a lot of toes, but I really had assumed they would just say yes…”

So what’s next for this dynamic duo, besides hopefully Comrades? Hilton gets a gleam in the eye as he admits he is already thinking about trying a triathlon, and hopefully building up to a Full Ironman with her… “But I have to learn to swim properly first! Also, I hate cold water, because I am so skinny – and where I grew up in the Free State, the water is never warm!” At this, Anita’s eyes light up even more… So, does she want to do Ironman? “Yes, definitely, without a doubt. I will register as a pro athlete if I have to! I believe that you should not be defined by your circumstances. Too many people get fixated on a disability, but I believe there is no such thing – some of us are just differently-abled.”

I haven’t written much about running lately, and to be perfectly honest, I’ve sort of been avoiding all things running-related… because when you are no longer able to run, you sort of run out of things to write about. So, instead, I’ve put together a list of all the things I’ve been thinking for the past month and a half… but have been a little too ashamed to admit.

Coming to terms with a running injury is like handling any sort of grief. It’s normal to go through stages as you learn to cope:

1 Denial:I’m not injured! So what if it hurts to walk. I just tweaked something – a few days and I’ll be as good as new.

2 Anger:I hate my body. Why does it fail me all the time? What did I do to deserve this?

3 Bargaining:Look, body, I know that you’re hurting, but I promise that if you just let me run without pain, I will never mistreat you again. Please, just one run without pain. I promise I will love running every single day of my life. I will never ever complain again. No, really!

4 Depression:I will never be able run again for as long as I live. What’s the point of even hoping? My life is over!

5 Acceptance:Okay, so maybe I need to take a break for a little while. If I rehab and stay smart now, I should be back running soon. Rest now will make me stronger than ever.

However, what is probably not so normal is the fact that I’ve been cycling back to depression more often than I would like to admit. Every time I come to a place that seems like acceptance, then a few days go by and I’m still in pain, and I go right back to feeling as though I’ll never run again. Logically, I know I’m being ridiculous, that my injury isn’t really all that bad, and that there’s a chance I’m being just a tad overdramatic… but logic doesn’t always win. Plus, letting myself wallow in despair gives me an excuse to be lazy, which is much easier than sticking to an alternative cross-training regimen. And I have not been as good about rehabbing my knee as I’d maybe like you all to believe.I blame it on that whole despair thing.

Meanwhile, my training partners are running faster than ever. I don’t know why they chose the time that I’m sidelined to take running so seriously, but it’s driving me nuts. I don’t know whether to be proud or hate their guts! This is the fact that I’m probably the least proud of: Even though I am very happy for them, reading about their success further highlights my own failings.

At this point, I’ve tried everything.I got new running shoes. I had myself convinced that if I wore shoes with a low heel-toe offset, focused on my form, and shortened my stride, my knee problems would go away. And it worked… for a few kays, but the pain always comes back. While I do think there are some mechanical issues with my stride and form that contribute to the pain, clearly changing how I run isn’t going to make it suddenly go away (though hopefully might help prevent injury in the future).

Taking my own advice…

The only thing I haven’t tried for real is sustained time off. Yes, I took two weeks off in January, but since then I’ve tried running a couple of times a week. And where has that gotten me? Only a little bit better… and infinitely more frustrated. Because when it comes down to it, I am awful at taking my own advice. I can talk all day long about the benefits of rest, but have I actually been doing it? When I look back at the past couple of weeks, the truth is I have not. Running less is not the same as not running at all.

I think it’s about time I come to terms with the fact that the only thing that will help is time off. I’m trying hard to move into this whole acceptance phase and stay there. But more than my desire to run fast is this overwhelming urge to just run. To feel the wind in my hair, the blood pumping in my veins, the feeling of my heart about to beat out of my chest. To once again lose myself in a long run, to know that my legs can carry me, to feel strong, to move without pain. What I wouldn’t give for a run without pain.

My biggest confession as an injured runner? I am not handling things well. Not all the time, anyway. I know that life is good and that my injury is not all that serious. And that (hopefully) in a few months’ time, this will all be a distant memory. Sometimes it’s just hard to see the forest through the trees…

They’ve become a regular sight in 5km fun runs around Gauteng, a group of guys in firefighting kit and running shoes, and there’s an interesting story behind their unorthodox racing kit.

Running can be challenging enough, what with steep hills, fatiguing muscles, heavy breathing and sweat in the eyes, but imagine doing it in full firefighting gear. That’s what five intrepid firefighters in Johannesburg are doing on a regular basis in Gauteng races. Henco Swart, Scott Liebenberg, Marco van Vuuren, Gary Kaufmann and Dewald Meintjies don their bunker gear, including pants and jacket, helmet and air tank, then lace up their running shoes and head off to do 5km fun runs and parkruns, all to get fit both for firefighting duty and for firefighting competitions.

“We’ve been competing in the yearly Scott Safety Challenge Events since they started in 2010, and also in the SAESI Expo in Joburg every second year, and we compete in full gear, with five tasks to complete either as a team or individually,” says Henco. “We call it the toughest two minutes in sport, so this year we decided to run races in our bunker suits to maintain our fitness and acclimatise to running in the gear, because it adds 30 kilograms to your weight and takes some getting used to. We also have the Toughest Firefighter Alive, hosted in Cape Town, where the guys are extremely fit, and we would like to go down there to take the cup from them!”

Friends Through Fire

The five guys are all involved in firefighting, although at different stations or areas. Gary is a firefighter at Lanseria airport, Dewald is a firefighter and fire rescue trainer at Pretoria North Fire station, Scott is a reservist at Lonehill, and both Henco and Marco volunteer where they can. The guys all met through regular get-togethers at the firefighting training centre, as well as monthly Burnout training and competition meets in Johannesburg. “Running forms part of the fitness training for firefighters, who must be able to run 2.4km in 12 minutes to be deemed fit to work, so all of us train and stay fit, but none of us are avid runners,” says Henco. “Dewald boxes, Marco plays rugby, Gary does PT at the station, and I do weight training and body building. We got into running because of the fire challenges, as it is a good way to build cardiovascular fitness.”

“Besides our own fitness and training, we are also inspired by Mark Basson’s Bunker Challenge. He is an EMT and volunteer rescue firefighter in KZN who wants to qualify for the highest paramedic level, but there are high costs to do so, so last year he did a series of events of up to 12 hours in full gear to raise funds for himself as well as for CHOC. We heard about him on the radio, then met him at the SAESI Expo, and our firefighting brotherhood meant we all instantly became friends.”

Physical Challenge

When asked what it is like to run in the gear, Henco says, “It’s hot as hell, and you perspire much more than in normal running gear. It also fatigues the body a whole lot faster, and there is a lot more strain on the body, from the neck all the way down, because the helmet weighs three kilograms. Then there is the SCBA, or self-contained breathing apparatus, our compressed air cylinder – with its whole rig it weighs another 13 kilograms.” The only firefighting equipment that the guys do not run in is their boots: “The boots make you do a bit of a duck-walk, and as anyone who has tried to run in gumboots will know, it is difficult to place your feet properly, it fatigues your feet, and it is heavy on the calves, strains the shins, and bad for the knees.”

“But the biggest thing about running in the suit is the mental game, because it makes 5km a lot tougher than normal, and we push to one more tree, or lamppost, until we see that finish line, but there is also the camaraderie. Running with my ‘brothers in fire’ and sharing this with them is a privilege and an honour, and our runs attract a lot of attention and create awareness, which is awe-inspiring.”

No race has ever been won by dotting down something on a piece of paper.

Nevertheless, Lindsey Parry is confident that Charné Bosman (Nedbank) will have a realistic chance of winning the Old Mutual Two Oceans women’s ultra-race on Saturday if she sticks to their agreed race plan.

“I don’t like to put pressure on Charné, but the time I have in mind for her to run would have won ten out of the last 11 Two Oceans races.  On Saturday it will all be about the plan rather than the victory. If somebody runs a faster time, so be it.  We cannot control what the other athletes do,” said Parry, who is a head coach at Tuks/HPC.

Parry’s philosophy to racing ultras is quite simple.  According to him, an athlete who is in good shape should not waste it. Apparently his positive approach is working. Last year Caroline Wöstmann (KPMG) won both the Comrades and the Two Oceans and Bosman finished 2nd in the Comrades and 5^th in the Two Oceans.

Bosman is moderately confident this time round because she has been injury free since 2014. However, she emphasizes that in ultra-races there are never any guarantees.

“Three weeks ago, on my last long training run, I ran 45 kilometres of the Two Oceans route and it made me realize again that the biggest mistake to make will be to start off at a too fast pace. So don’t count me out if I am not among the front runners at Chapman’s Peak. As far as I am concerned the real race will only start at Constantia Nek. It is a tough climb with a gradient of about 12% compared to the 6% gradient of Chapmans Peak, therefore it is important to start the Constantia climb with relatively fresh legs. In 2013 when I finished second in the Two Oceans I made up nearly three minutes on the frontrunners on the climb,” said Bosman who trains at the HPC.

Bosman, who turned 40 last year, believes that she is now stronger than she has ever been.

“I can honestly say I don’t feel as if I am 40 years old. The positive thing about ageing is that you also become wiser, which is good when it comes to racing ultras.”

As was the case last year, Bosman will again wear pink to create awareness for cancer.

“Actually this time the true reason why I will be wearing pink will be because I will dedicate my race to Riana van Niekerk. I still cannot believe that she died in February. I truly miss her.”

Van Niekerk, a four-time Comrades gold medallist, has died after a nine-month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 39.

Be sure to follow Charne' Bosmans' journey this weekend!

Are you running your first Comrades Marathon in 2016? Are you feeling nervous about where to begin? Are you sure you’re doing the correct training? Are you getting optimum nutrition?

If these sorts of questions are on your mind, then you need to attend a Bonitas Comrades Novice Seminar in a town near you.

Over 7000 novice runners have entered the 2016 Comrades Marathon and the 2016 Bonitas Comrades Novice Seminars are designed specifically for these first-time Comrades Marathon runners.

This project is sponsored by Bonitas Medical Fund, one of the major sponsors of the Comrades Marathon and South Africa’s second largest open medical scheme. These seminars are interactive and very informative.

First time Comrades runners will have the opportunity to interact with the Comrades Coach and other experts, including a medical doctor and dietician. Among the topics to be covered are:

·        Injury prevention

·        Treatment of injuries

·        Training

·        Running shoes

·        Tapering

·        Race day strategies

·        Nutrition and

·        Dangers of using medication while running

The medical doctor will advise on how to run a healthy Comrades. The dietician will cover runners’ nutrition, including what to eat while training and race day sustenance.

Registered Dietician, Nicki de Villiers works with athletes and guides them to optimum nutrition to train well and achieve their running goals. Nicki has been working in the field of dietetics for around 20 years and has been concentrating on sports nutrition for the last 12 years. 

The Comrades Marathon Coach, Lindsey Parry will share valuable information regarding training, injury prevention and treatment, recovery, reasons for failure and how to prevent them; tapering and race day strategies.

Dr Sello Motaung is a medical doctor with experience in Sports Medicine and Occupational Medicine. He has travelled broadly with elite South African athletes at national and international sports events as the Team Medical Officer. He will share health tips with the runners to ensure they have a good race day.

These seminars are not to be missed. Entry is free and bookings are not necessary.

Venues for the seminars are as follows;

For more information, visit www.comrades.com.

IZOKUTHOBA – IT WILL HUMBLE YOU!

Our Modern Athlete correspondent Ciara Picco brings us the experience of her journey to the Puma Disc Launch in Jamaica! Will she meet the world famous athlete Usain Bolt? Keep reading to find out!
 

Wow, JNB – JFK – KIN, far to say the least.

From getting on the plane in jo'burg, to crossing the threshold of my hotel room took 25 hours. All with a technical delay at JNB, the longest apron taxi at JFK including a blur of customs and baggage recheck, an AirTrain ride, a 1500m dash any Olympic hopeful would be proud of, a final expedited rush through passport control, a quick wee, then boarded my Jet Blue flight. Sigh of relief.

Being someone who likes to break things down into small achievable goals, getting on that Jet Blue flight was the top step prize for getting through the previous 16+hours on my long haul flight.

Honestly, I had no idea airplanes could fly for that long. My questions don't center solely on the fuel and viability of engines to operate for that long but more on the human waste side of things, and hey, all systems handled quite as they should.

Immediately on Jet Blue I experienced the easy going nature of The Jamaican people. It was a full flight so in many cases families were split up, but a switch here, a change there and everyone ended up just where they wanted to be.

I will admit that I didn't realize that it was such a long flight from JFK to KIN so got a bit agitated towards the end of the 4 hours. After quick nap and a view of their great on board entertainment selection and I was descending into Kingston, Jamaica.

Wah gwan, bredren! I have landed!

Another passport control, the only out of the last four that I was able to keep my shoes on at. Stamped, forex, bag picked up and through customs I went into the heavy humidity of this port town.

On the hotel transfer we made a hairpin trip on the coastal road into town, past the University and cricket stadium up to the Spanish Court Hotel. On the journey in, the meager living made by Kingston folk is apparent in the urban living style. Lots of side road entrepreneurs selling various consumables to make their living. By this it is easy to see why sport has such a great and deep meaning to the Jamaican public, from towns like these come international heroes. World champions. World record holders. 

Off for a settle in and recoup.

To follow more details of the launch, follow #TurnItOn.

To read more about the new Disc Shoe, read more here

Thulani Sibisi lined up for the 1986 Two Oceans Marathon knowing he had to win the 56km ultra, or else he would have to pay back a lot of money… but he did win, and that opened many new doors for him. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Having finished 12th and 14 in the 1982 and 1983 Two Oceans Marathons, Thulani had actually decided by late 1985 to retire from competitive running, but after finishing second at the Peninsula Marathon in early 1986, he decided late to run Oceans again. The problem was, he didn’t have accommodation arranged in Cape Town, and was not keen on a long, cramped bus or train journey from Johannesburg just before the race, so he decided to ask his former employer, businessman Johan Rupert, for help.

“I called his office and told his secretary I needed money for an air ticket,” says Thulani. “Five minutes later she phoned back to say Johan said OK, but then I have to win, or else I must pay him back. I said OK, because I knew I could win it. Then she phoned to say the ticket was bought, first class, and I was booked into a hotel in Newlands as well, just one kilometre from the start and finish! So, I was well rested when I lined up for the race, and I knew I was going to have a good run. I pulled away from the leaders on Chapman’s Peak and got caught again in Hout Bay, but I knew I would get them on Constantia Nek. My tactics worked perfectly, and that win opened doors for me. I wouldn’t be what I am today if I had not won, because it made me a brand. Other guys achieved more race wins, but that one win brought me far more, because I think I utilised it better.”

Opportunity to Run
Born in 1953, Thulani grew up in rural Natal but left school early to go find work in Johannesburg, landing a job as gardener for Johan Rupert. “I told him I was a champion 10,000m runner at school, so he said I should train after work and show him what I can do,” says Thulani. “One day I told him I wanted to run a 21km in Soweto, and asked him for R1 – that was a lot of money back then! I finished fifth, and on the Monday he spoke to various people who put me in touch with Johnny Halberstadt. I went to see him at his running shop and he gave me new running shoes and a big bag of running clothes. I was now a sponsored athlete!”

By 1983 Thulani was working at the Frontrunner sport shop in Sandton and running for RAC, where he was looked after by mother-figure Vreni Welch, but the Apartheid laws made life very difficult. “I would get arrested at least once a month while training because of the Pass Law, so Vreni let me stay at her place, and that stopped most of the arrests.” However, one night Thulani and his girlfriend got dressed up for a club dinner, and while waiting for a bus, he was once again arrested. “I was wearing a suit, looking great, but I felt so humiliated.” Frustrated, Thulani decided to quit running, but then fellow RAC runner Bob De La Motte asked Mark Etheridge of the Star newspaper to write about Thulani. “After that there were no more arrests, and I was protected by the white runners like Bob and Johnny. I don’t think of them as friends, they are my brothers.”

Administrative Role
Thulani finished second in the 1987 Two Oceans, then eighth in 1989 and 12th in 1990, and then focused on the administrative side of the sport, serving on the RAC committee, then helping to found the new ASA national body and the Soweto Marathon. He also went to the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona as Team Manager of the South African long distance athletes, including eventual silver medallist in the 10,000m, Elana Meyer. “I am proud that I had the vision to organise for Elana to stay outside the Olympic Village, so that she could focus on her race, and that’s where athletics changed in this country, because nobody expected an Afrikaner woman to operate so well with a black manager. When people speak about our Rainbow Nation, it already existed in athletics since the mid-80s, when Bob and Vreni protected me, and I carried it forward.”

However, there was one more hill to climb… In 2012, Thulani was diagnosed with stage three prostate cancer, which he describes as “one of my worst experiences. I never expected it, since I had always led a healthy lifestyle with no drinking or smoking. Now I am working with the Prostate Cancer Foundation, teaching young people about the disease. Also, many people think cancer is just a white thing, so there is a lot of awareness to be created in black communities.”