Category: Features

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!

On the afternoon of 3 May 2017, shortly after receiving news that Karen Brough had won the Modern Athlete Diacore Gabarone Marathon competition, three bubbly running buddies met up for a celebratory ice-cream and to make some plans for our (very) last-minute road-trip. Botswana will never be the same, and neither will Sandra Brownrigg, Karen and I. – BY WENDY SELLER

We are all fairly new at this running thing, having only joined the Easy Equities Born 2 Run club at the end of 2016. So we couldn’t believe that within a matter of minutes, our weekend plans had changed significantly and that we would be running our very first international race four days later. The next 24 hours were frantically busy as we ran around and arranged everything from transport to passports, babysitters and playlists for the four-and-a-half-hour drive to Gaborone.

The drive was a laugh-a-minute adventure, as three city girls took to the road and made our way through quaint dorpies, popped in at the local Prokureur’s Kantoor for a toilet stop, and man-handled the 4×4 on the longest stretch of rugged dirt-road any of us had ever seen.

Four hours flew past in what felt like forty minutes. On the other hand, getting through the border was a testing trundle. Thankfully it was still light when we drove over the line and found ourselves in rush-hour Gaborone traffic. The locals were friendly and happily helped us find our way to the Miami-esque Grand Palm Peermont Hotel. By now we were a little frazzled, and after checking in, we devoured dinner and called it a night.

Excitement Overload
Early on Saturday morning we laced up our running shoes and went for a little exploratory trot to acquaint ourselves with the streets of Gaborone. It was surreal to see the race organisers out before sunrise, putting finishing touches on everything, including painting the picket fence in anticipation of Botswana’a running event of the year.

The three of us were like kids the night before Christmas at race number collection, wide eyed and hyped up for the experience of a lifetime, and proudly paraded our lumo-orange race packs for all to see. None of us slept very well that night – typically we never do, as pre-race excitement had taken hold – but the preparation was done, our numbers pinned to club vests and alarms were set for an early start.

Race morning came and we once again realised how lucky we were to be standing at the start line of the Diacore Gaborone Half Marathon, surrounded by a few hundred runners from every corner of the globe. The race energy was frenetic just prior to the gun going off, but as soon as the race began, we took to the streets with only one objective: To enjoy every minute, to savour the experience, and to do what we love most, run!

Because we had no preconceived ideas about the route, we didn’t bog ourselves down with any pre-race strategies or discussions about elevation, pace and route profile maps, we simply went out there to have tons of fun and make it home with a shiny new medal to show everyone.

Essential Selfies!
After a few kilometres, Mother Nature pulled out all the stops and showed off with the most insane sunrise. The blazing ball of fire in the sky literally rendered us speechless, and we stopped on the fly-over for a couple of selfies. We were tourists, after all! Running in Gaborone can only be described as “city meets bushveld,” with tarred roads surrounded by the remnants of excavated bush, and livestock roaming around – chickens, cows and even donkeys crossing the roads reminded us of the honesty of Africa, and it was brutally beautiful.

The vibe was incredible, with lots of locals cheering and showing appreciation for us foreigners running in their country, and the water points were frequent and well managed in the 36-degree heat. The three of us were on top of the world – a flattish, slightly undulating African world, but we were on top of it anyway. The half marathon route allowed for a very consistent race, and despite stopping to take snapshots along the way, we found ourselves running through the finish line in very respectable times, with the most awesome memories. The cherry on top was receiving the news that Karen had won a prize for finishing fourth in the over-40 age category!

Although the Diacore Gaborone Half Marathon is not one of the toughest races, this was by far the most thrilling race for us. We felt like champions as we hugged at the finish line and then danced our way to medal collection. What a feeling finishing the race with the widest of smiles and happiest of hearts – three friends and sisters in running. And with Botswana having endeared itself to us, we will happily return to run the full marathon in 2018.

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.”

In spite of working 12-hour shifts most days at a petrol station and struggling to fit in training, suffering an injury shortly before the race and then being mugged as well, Anele Mnukwa still put in a solid performance at the Cell C AfricanX Trailrun presented by ASICS in Mid-March, and stole the hearts of the rest of the field. – BY SEAN FALCONER & JACKY McCLEAN

When Anele Mnukwa was called up on stage during the AfricanX Trailrun to receive the Sanet Wentzel Spirit Award, he wound his way through the packed hall, along with teammate Francois Groenewald, to a standing ovation. His fellow runners had just heard his inspirational story of overcoming great adversity and running through the pain barrier to be there with them, participating in the three-day stage race that he had long dreamt of running. They stood to applaud his spirit and strength, and pay tribute to a running hero.

Each year at AfricanX, the participating runners are invited to nominate one of their fellow runners (or a team) for the Sanet Wentzel Award, which was introduced in 2010 in memory of Sanet Wentzel of Oudtshoorn. She had run the first AfricanX in 2009, and towards the end of that year, just one day after phoning her running partner to convince her they should enter the 2010 race, Sanet was tragically killed by a drunk driver while out training. The award honours runners who persevere in spite of adversity.

Talent Spotted
Anele works as a petrol pump attendant in the small Western Cape town of Grabouw, just a few kilometres up the N2 highway from the AfricanX venue at Houw Hoek Inn. He started running in 2010 when his work manager noticed his running talent and asked Francois to try coach him, because he was doing well in spite of running long distances in overalls and boots. With proper running gear, Anele soon started making the podium at local Boland races, even winning a few.

“Some of his astonishing podiums came from the Bainskloof Ultra 63km, which he won by miles, and at the Matroosberg Skymarathon 36km, he managed two consecutive second places, just minutes behind AJ Calitz – all with no trail running experience or support gear,” says Francois. “He managed on a few occasions to be selected by Boland for national races in the 10, 21 and 42km distances, and he boasts personal best times of 32 minutes for 10km, 1:11 for the half marathon and 2:32 in the marathon. He also ran 3:38 in the Two Oceans, and in his first attempt at Comrades, he managed to stay in the top 15 for 70km, but had to retire eventually. His lack of training due to long shifts caught up with him, unfortunately.”

AfricanX Surprise
Originally, the two running friends had no plans to run the AfricanX, but just two weeks before the race, Francois received a wonderful surprise. “I’d had my heart set on running AfricanX with Anele since 2011. Unfortunately, we had not been able to cover the entry fee, as Anele does not earn that much as a petrol attendant. However, I mentioned our situation to one of the event organisers the weekend of the Fedhealth XTERRA Grabouw, and to my surprise I received a phone call the very next day, inviting us to run in the colours of one of their sponsors, Big Box Containers. I was speechless… but with just two weeks left to train, Anele and I started that same day!”

This is where the drama started. On their first training run on the XTERRA run route around Eikenhof Dam, Anele fell and seriously injured his leg, gashing his whole shin open. The injury became infected, but he told Francois he was OK to continue, so they scheduled a second training run on that Friday. However, Anele didn’t show up, and later that day Francois found out that while on his way to training, Anele was attacked by seven men who stole his shoes and watch. “Fortunately he got his gear back eventually, as it was his only training gear, but first he had to pay off one of the assailants to disclose who they sold the gear to! We were just thankful that he walked away unscathed, but needless to say, we knew that our dream of racing AfricanX and pushing for the podium would not come to fruition this year, given his injury and lack of consistent training, and our new goal was just to finish each stage.”

So the two friends headed to Houw Hoek on the Thursday afternoon to register, ahead of the Friday first stage, only to find another surprise waiting for them. “When we arrived at race pack collection, we were told there was a fully furnished Big Box container with our names on it. So instead of sleeping in tents like the rest of the entrants, we lived in luxury for the whole event,” says Francois.

Hitting the Trails
In spite of Anele’s injured leg, the pair started each day with a will to do the best they could, and they still managed a very decent placing of 12th pairing in the men’s race on the 37km first stage, 12th again on day two (33km) and 14th on the final day, over 23km, giving them an overall finishing position of 10th in the men’s category. Running in their colourful Big Box team colours, the pair really stood out from the crowd as they powered their way along the trails, still managing to smile when a camera was pointed at them.

According to Anele, it is the challenge that attracts him to trail running, and he says running the AfricanX was a dream come true. “I really enjoyed the AfricanX Trailrun, especially because Francois and I run really well together. Unfortunately this year we couldn’t go as fast as we wanted to due to my injury, but next year we will not hold back. Also, sleeping in the Big Box container was very special. We were really fortunate to be treated to such luxury. And I am really grateful for the Sanet Wentzel Award that I won during the Stage Two prize-giving. It has motivated me to train harder and really give my all at the 2018 AfricanX Trailrun.”

Francois echoes his teammate’s sentiments, saying, “Our AfricanX experience generated mixed emotions. Not being able to compete on our usual level due to my partner's injury meant that we had to postpone any ambitions for a podium finish, but we were still exposed to a realm of support and sportsmanship like never before. The support received from Big Box and the Stillwater Events organisers surpassed our highest expectations.”

The great news for Anele and Francois is that Big Box has extended a free entry to them for the 2018 race, and Big Box has already committed to once again sponsor their container accommodation. “The teaming up of Francois and Anele is really special, because it’s a partnership that is built on a friendship between two individuals who have totally different backgrounds, but share the same passion for running. We will continue to ‘run this road’ with this very special team and have already offered them a Big Box entry into the 2018 Cell C AfricanX Trailrun.”

One of the highlights of the 2017 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon was Jenna Challenor finishing second overall and first South African in the women’s race, in her debut ultra-marathon, but few people know how hard she had to work just to be able to line up for the race. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Running a 56km ultra-marathon for the first time and finishing as runner-up is an incredible athletic feat in itself, and Durbanite Jenna Challenor deserves credit based on that alone… but achieving that on top of being a mother of three young girls, having to overcome an injury in the weeks leading up to the race, and overcoming the disappointment of only just missing out on the Rio Olympics a few months earlier, make Jenna’s feat all the more remarkable. And she did it with a smile on her face most of the way – it was only in the last few kays that the strain began to show on her face!

Jenna moved up into second place around the 27km mark when she overtook Tanith Maxwell, and says she only realised she was second when the ‘2nd Female’ bicycle went with her. “I really didn’t expect it, but I just backed myself to stick to my plan. I didn’t know the gap to the Belarus leader, or how far behind me Tanith was, and I didn’t know Caroline Wörstmann had pulled out, I was just running my own race and enjoying the moments. That’s because I didn’t have a goal position or time in mind, I just wanted to stick to my plan in my debut. I had taken all the pressure off myself because you can do that in your debut… there are no expectations on you, and you can just test it out.”

Sporty Roots
Jenna grew up in a running family – her mom has done 10 Comrades – and ran middle distance at school while also doing lifesaving. She was part of the SA team, alongside future husband Brett, that won the Lifesaving World Champs in New Zealand in 1998. She studied teaching, but decided to concentrate on photography as a job once her three daughters, Nicolette, Rylee and Tao, were born, as it allowed her to spend more time with the kids and still run competitively. That saw her win multiple KwaZulu-Natal provincial championship titles at 10km and the half marathon, as well as in cross-country, and she competed for SA in cross country in 2009. Then in 2013 Jenna finished third in the SA Half Marathon Champs and booked her spot in the SA team for the 2014 World Half Marathon Champs in Denmark.

In 2015 she joined the KPMG Running Club, and having focused on the marathon in recent years, Jenna says she felt the time was right to step up to an ultra. “I’ve always wanted to run the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon, and the Comrades, and this year the opportunity arose to run Oceans as a tester and see how my body will respond. The great news is that I felt absolutely fine, and I really loved the run, even though I was a bit nervous before the start about the extra distance.”

Interestingly, she says that extra distance and slightly slower pace actually allowed her to enjoy the run more. “People often ask if I saw the scenery in this race or that race, but you don’t get to look at the scenery in shorter races. At Oceans, the pace is slower, so you can take in the incredible views and the crowd support along the route. I will admit I was worried about the extra distance, as my longest training run was only 44km, but I used the crowd support to get me through it, and the kilometres just kept coming. The last few kays were a bit hard, because that’s when the extra mileage hit me a bit, but what a feeling running into that finish! And then the incredible messages of support started coming in from the whole of SA. As I said to my husband Brett, if coming second brings you this much praise and love and support, I can only imagine what would happen if I’d won!”

Tough Times…
What most people don’t know is that Jenna had a disrupted build-up to her ultra debut, with a number of weeks out injured and much time spent with her doctor and physio. First she picked up food poisoning in Dubai, which forced her to bail at the 27km of the Dubai Marathon, and then she ran the PDAC 25km race in Durban too hard, clocking 3 minute 20 kays on the downhills, and injured her foot. And that all came after she had suffered persistent knee problems after her three previous marathons, which ultimately saw her doctors find an enlarged fat pad in her knee that was becoming enflamed after longer runs. “It took seven to eight weeks to heal after my first marathon, and again after my third one, to the extent that I had to be on crutches. Thankfully, surgery to cut it down in size sorted it out, so my knee is ‘thinner’ now,” jokes Jenna.

“But having come through that, the foot injury was a huge letdown. It felt like I just kept getting knocked back down, even though I thought I was doing everything right and working so hard. I started questioning if this is the right journey for me, or if I should just be a mom, but something in me would not let me give up. I couldn’t run for four weeks, but I was still in the water every day, pool-running to maintain my fitness, and I did bio every day as well. Mentally, I had to really buckle down to keep on the path to Oceans, but that hard work and overcoming those obstacles is worth it when you get that race where it just comes together. Somebody actually said to my coach after Two Oceans that I must have had a great build-up to the race, but it wasn’t great, it was actually incredibly hard. But where there’s a will, there’s a way!”

Naturally, Jenna says she would not have had such a brilliant run at Two Oceans if not for the support she receives, from family, friends, her coach and medical team, and her sponsors. “I believe it’s not just the athlete that succeeds, it’s the team that makes the dream work, so I owe a lot of credit to all my sponsors – KPMG offers me the opportunity to go to these races, 32Gi keep me fuelled to perform, and I just love the adidas brand. My coach Ernie Gruhn has guided not only my running, but also looks after the training of my girls, making sure it is manageable and fun for them, and I really appreciate that! Then there are my physio Wayne Holroyd and doctor Kevin Subban, who both put a lot of work in and did wonders to get me through my injuries. Wayne has been a best friend since our lifesaving days, so I probably get extra TLC as a result, but he still often tells me to eat some cement and toughen up, since he knows me so well. And I just love the Regents Harriers running group in Durban North. I’ve been doing their long runs since I was 18 so they have been a big part of my journey.”

Unsurprisingly, she reserves special praise for Brett, saying that she simply would not be able to pursue her running dream without his love and support. “Brett comes from an elite athlete background, so he knows what it takes. He often has to step in and help with the family, but he never complains. In fact, I sometimes think he believes in my dreams even more than me! He knows that I love running, that it sets my heart and soul on fire, and this run at Oceans made all the work and sacrifice worth it. I am so happy and forever grateful to everyone that helped me achieve that second place.”

Olympic Inspiration
There was one other disappointment that Jenna says actually inspired her in the year leading up to her Two Oceans debut. In the build-up to the Rio Olympics she ran a 2:37 marathon PB and was in contention for selection as one of the three SA women to run the Olympic Marathon, but in the end she had the fourth-fastest time and just missed out. “It was a big disappointment, but then again, you have to keep in mind that when I joined the Endurocad Programme, and they asked us to list our running goals, Elana Meyer still questioned me about the fact that I was one of the only athletes not to list the Olympics as a goal. I told her that I thought the Games were bigger than me, but then to get so close and miss out was a bit of a kick in the teeth… but it also motivated me greatly. I decided to back myself and see how far I can go as an elite runner.”

Of course, Jenna’s success at Two Oceans has sparked many a question about her stepping up to the Comrades this year, but she says she isn’t ready for that. “Much as I would love to run the Comrades, it won’t be this year. That would be asking too much, too soon of my body. I’m dying to run it, but I’ve only just stepped up to ultras, and think Comrades would be a step too far. Also, I don’t feel I’m finished with the marathon yet, and can still try to get faster over 42 kays. I think that when you step up to Comrades, you say goodbye to faster marathon times. So for the rest of this year I am going to focus on the shorter distances, like the Spar and Totalsports women’s races, and I’ve been invited to run the FNB Cape Town 12 ONERUN, and then I’ll get into another marathon training block towards the end of the year. But for now I just want to enjoy my Two Oceans result!”

When 47-year-old Esther Patience crossed the finish line of the Standard Bank Ironman 70.3 in East London earlier this year, she finally completed an epic five-year quest to earn that finisher’s medal! – BY SEAN FALCONER

 

Having run both the Up and Down Comrades as well as various other ultras, Esther was looking for a new challenge in 2011, when she began to notice a number of good-looking athletes training around Johannesburg. She later found out they were triathletes. “I decided I wanted to look that good, so even though I couldn’t swim, and had last ridden a bicycle years before, I decided to take up triathlon. In fact, I decided that I wanted to do the Ironman!”

 

Later in 2012, having moved back to the Cape, somebody suggested she join Steve Attwell’s Embark training group. “I told Steve I can’t swim, and in the first 300m time trial swim, I swallowed a lot of water and missed the cut-off time! Still, my plan was to tackle the 70.3 Half Ironman in 2014 before going for the full Ironman in 2015. Learning to swim was just a minor obstacle! When we went up to Clanwilliam for the Freshpack Fitness Festival in October, Steve made us beginners do the 1.5km swim in the morning. I was lapped by the 3km swimmers, but after that I had a fantastic race in my first tri that afternoon – the 800m swim felt easy by comparison, even though I again came out of the water last. I then did the Slanghoek and Jailbreak triathlons, and I felt confident that I could take on the 70.3 in January 2014.”

 

“In East London I had a fantastic swim, 1:01 for 1.9km, but I had forgotten the 700m run to transition, so it was already 1:10 on the clock by the time I was out of transition, which left me exactly four hours for the bike. I was halfway at 4:30, so I had 1:30 to finish another 45km, but the wind turned and at 60km I had one hour left and knew I couldn’t make it. At 82km I already knew I had missed the cut-off, but I rode till 88km before they took me off the route. The guys were very apologetic for making me quit, and I cried the whole way through that 2km drive.”

 

Revised Goals

Disappointed but undaunted, Esther made a new goal for herself: Finish the bike leg! “T2 became my new goal and I even blogged about the red carpet having to wait.” So she rejoined Embark, now with the Somerset West group under Coach Japie, and focused on her cycling. When the 2015 70.3 came around, Esther had an even better swim, improving by five minutes and feeling confident she could make the bike leg this time… until she broke her derailleur hanger at 37km and was forced to retire. “My cousin has been with me to every single tri since I started. We had cried and drank together after 2014, and now in 2015 she had taken the supporters’ bus to halfway, but never knew I had bailed. So again we cried together.”

 

Training for the 2016 race, Esther started getting niggly injuries, and eventually Japie suggested she rather do the Durban 70.3 later in the year, but rough seas saw the swim leg in Durban cancelled. “I had a fantastic bike, then a great run, and finished in 5:58, but I didn’t feel like I had done a 70.3, and it didn’t give me confidence for East London, as the bike leg in Durban is much easier, so I had to keep on working!”

 

Fortunately for Esther, she literally swam into a new training partner, Nicol Carstens, in the sea off the Strand Beach in 2016. “Two guys swam into us one day and I then saw Nicol post about it on Facebook. It took a while, but I eventually made contact and convinced him to join our group. Turns out we both struggle with the swim – I’m slow, he’s afraid, because he almost drowned at 70.3 and ended up in hospital – and we became training partners and best buds. I finally had a training partner that I could stay with, so I started enjoying the bike training.”

 

Hard Times

On the home front, Esther was now not just fitting her training around her work schedule – she is an IT specialist for Nedbank – but was also playing mother and nurse. “I inherited a child when my sister passed away two years ago. Her teenaged daughter went to live with my parents, but then my father was diagnosed with prostate cancer in December 2014, so my parents and niece moved in with me. He then became paralysed in June 2016, and those were hard times, as my dad was not sleeping well and I was often up in the middle of the night, but we moved our training venue to my house so that I could still go for a ride, come back to move him, and then go for a run.”

 

“My dad passed away on 10 September, and I wanted to do the Cape Ultra Tri in his memory two weeks later, but I got sick and the doc said no race. I wasn’t going to race, but changed my mind because I knew Nicol wouldn’t do it without me. I did OK in the swim, 56 minutes, and he waited for me in transition, but I had no legs in the bike, and on the second lap he shouted at me to pick up my pace. We finished just before the cut-off, then made it through the run, but I knew it meant I was still not ready for East London.”

 

Again fortune smiled on Esther when she signed up with cycling coach Morne Bester three months before 70.3. He cut her training down, which initially worried her, until she realised her legs were no longer sore all the time, and she soon saw her results improve. “Now I could actually overtake people on hills, which gave me confidence for 70.3.” Still, Esther barely slept the night before the big race, and then during the swim she was repeatedly bumped by a girl swimming just behind her, which caused her calf to cramp when she was surprised by another sudden bump.

 

Chasing Hard

She came out of the water in 1:03, knowing she had to be out of transition by 1:10 if she wanted to make the bike cut-off, so she was stressing, and worrying about her calf, but she ran out of there by 1:10. “I now had 4:05 for the bike and knew there was no time for dawdling. I was riding hard and overtaking people, but my virtual partner on my watch was telling me I was in the red, behind the required pace. I had problems with the strict drafting rule, as the big guys would pass me on the downhills, and then I would pass them again on the climbs, but I rode with a man in a pale blue shirt for a while and that helped me. By 60km I was in the green for the first time and felt OK… until my chain came off. Luckily the man in blue came past right then and stopped to help me, and it took less than a minute to fix, but now I was back in the red. From there I just chased hard to keep the man in blue in sight, and at 88km I was in the green by a minute. That’s when I knew I was going to make it, and I entered T2 after 5:13:25, less than two minutes before the 5:15 cut-off.”

 

Now Esther had another problem: Her one foot had become enflamed during the bike leg and she was limping badly, but the doctor managed to rub it back into life while other race volunteers helped Esther calm down and change into running kit. “Steve had told me, kill yourself on the bike, or the disappointment will kill you when you miss the bike-cut-off… and now I was going to limp 21km if I needed to! Luckily my foot soon recovered, and the run actually felt like a victory lap. I stopped and hugged everybody that I knew, because they all knew how hard I had worked to make the bike leg.”

 

“Coming into the finish, I passed the Embark group, all screaming for me, and that was actually better than the red carpet. In fact, by the time I realised I was on the red carpet, I was already almost at the tape, and I was on such a high that I actually ran past the medals, and had to be called back. Getting my bike out of T2, I met the man in blue again, Brian Bailey. I still need to track him down, because he played a significant role in my finish. If I had wasted another minute on that chain, there’s a good chance I would not have made it, and I still want to thank him properly. That night everybody wanted to have a celebratory drink with me, and I remembered my cousin saying two years earlier, if this is how you party after not finishing, wait till you finish! Well, the long-term goal remains to do the full Ironman in 2018, and then we will really celebrate!”