Running the comradeship race behind The Comrades

Last updated on 19 June 2023

While her friends and family ran the 87.7km in the Comrades Marathon last Sunday – 11 June 2023 Dikatso Mothae was engaged in a race of her own trying to ensure the runners were well hydrated and looked after.

Despite a few hiccups including missing her runner husband at a waterpoint she pulled off the demanding role of runner supporter. This is her diary from the gruelling 87.7 kilometres ultimate human race run this year from Pietermaritzburg to Durban.

The route is scenic with picturesque views of green pastures, rolling hills and fresh Kwazulu-Natal air. Of course, the runners see very little of this on the day as they focus solely on completing the ultimate human race.

As the main supporter to my husband, Mothepu Mothae and sister, Mmankitseng Mametse – both of whom were running their third Comrades, my role was to make sure I don’t miss any of the agreed “water” or designated support points on the route where I will be providing much needed nutritional boosts to ensure these top runners accomplish their goals.

As a social runner myself, I was also a minor supporter to 14 friends who form part of the Bel Air Runners (BAR) or #TeamBAR crew, based in Johannesburg.

Runners often belong to run crews in addition to their running clubs. The crews drive the training and support as they tend to be based in the community the runners live in. Running crews also offer a safe environment as running takes place in groups and everyone looks out for one another.

At Comrades, my unofficial job for the BAR crew is keep the runners’ spirits up and to cheer them on to the finish line.

Many runners start running to either lose weight or to keep a healthy and balanced lifestyle. Most run Comrades to test their limits.

Here are their stories.

Mothepu (Male, 40 category) says he first started running as a child in the Mountain Kingdom of Lesotho, where he grew up, because his father used to run.

“He would take me for weekly cross country club runs. But now I run for fitness as well as mental and physical health. But I’ve since developed a love for running because of the challenge and adversity and personal rewards it offers, such that it mirrors life,” he said.

As an adult, he started running casually in 2013 and became fully committed two years later. There are many reasons he considered running Comrades.

“I used to watch Comrades for many years but never even thought of running it, but when I joined a running crew, a few guys were Comrades runners, and it developed a drive for me to run the Comrades. I also got motivated by a friend of mine’s father who ran his first Comrades in his 70s,” he said.

Mothepu ran his first comrades in 2018 and did his “back-to-back” in 2019. More on the “back-to-back” medals later on.

His running journey has been marred with injuries and he couldn’t run at all for some time. When Covid hit, he was completely off running. There was no Comrades in 2020 and 2021, but his injury meant he would miss its return in 2022.

“My journey has been one of joy and disappointment, love and hate, one of greater friendships and family. But I’ve learned to accept and even love Comrades for everything it comes with, because the race actually starts with the training, and yet not everyone that trains for it will run and even those that start the run on race day, may never finish,” he said.

Interestingly, Mothepu cycled most of the year. He only started training for Comrades two months before the race. His 2023 Comrades finish time is 11:14:25.

For Mmankitseng (Female, 40 Category), running was a progression from hiking, which she enjoyed with friends and family on weekends. With hiking, in 2012 she went as far as climbing the majestic Mount Kilimanjaro in Tanzania – Africa’s highest mountain.

“I remember with running I used to enjoy the zoo trots at Johannesburg Zoo, the colour runs, and the 702 Walk the Talk. I remember doing my first half marathon with you (Dikatso) and your husband (Mothepu), having done no training at all. I think I enjoyed the pain I felt that entire week so much that it progressed from there,” she scoffs.

Mmankitseng also blames Mothepu for tricking her into running the Comrades.

“I remember he said, ‘come on, enter and just keep your options open, you can always give your entry away if you decide not to run’. And I entered, and didn’t give my entry away,” she smiles.

Her first Comrades was in 2019, and she had to wait until 2022 to get her ‘back-to-back’ medal.

Avid Comrades viewers will know that in order to receive a medal, it isn’t good enough to just run the 87.7km, you have to run it in under 12 hours.

Last year Mmankitseng had her family (me included) and friends on edge for the last few minutes of the 12-hour cut off. She finished her Comrades in 11 hours 59 minutes and 12 seconds.

I remember my husband and I were on our feet inside the packed (and stunning) Moses Mabhida Stadium in Durban, looking out for her. I was already working on the words I would use to console her if she didn’t make it before the cut off time. And then finally, in what felt like the very last second before cut-off, she came in faster than I’ve ever seen her run, her stride still intact.

Last Sunday she finished Comrades in a comfortable time of 11:35:05.

The Novices

The BAR crew had 3 novices running Comrades this year.

Maud Nale was one of them. She describes her comrades journey as exciting, yet daunting and a humbling experience. “This is the first time that one goal has taken all my time, energy and focus, but I knew that running the race would require more than what I was accustomed to. At the end of March, I got injured and was forced to reduce my running and focus on rehabilitation. What a humbling experience that was! I’m so grateful for the journey and all the lessons it brought my way,” she said.

Maud was cut-off from the race at about 70km. She says she was initially very disappointed that she did not complete the race but after some reflection she is proud of herself for doing her best.

“Running any race, and more so Comrades, is an individual experience and things don’t always work out as we plan. Not finishing does not make me a failure. Running Comrades taught me a lot about myself and reminded me that I can push to the edge of my limits. Learning from the experiences and noting my development areas, Comrades Marathon is unfinished business, so I will definitely return next year,” she said.

Busi Gaika, started running more seriously in 2020 having been a gym enthusiast. She started running with the BAR crew the following year, and one of the coaches, Sifiso Ndaba, encouraged her to run Comrades.

“Sifiso planted that seed in me and it got me so excited and curious that somebody thought I could do such a long distance. So just like that it became a goal worth pursuing. At this point I had not even run a marathon yet. My first was Soweto Marathon in 2022 which I only had 2 months to train for. Needless to say Soweto showed me flames but I also discovered then that marathons really gave me the opportunity to enjoy solitude, peace, and also uplifted my mood and gave me lots of time for reflection,” she said.

Busi ran her first Comrades last Sunday. She wasn’t just running it for herself, she also ran for a charity close to her heart. “Running Comrades also offered me an opportunity to raise funds for a charity organisation that raises awareness about childhood cancer. My son was diagnosed with a brain tumour when he was 7 years old. CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation had helped me a lot in my time of need. The charity gives support to children fighting cancer and their families,” she said.

Busi was able to raise over R9 000 for CHOC by running Comrades. Her finish time was 11:28:32.

“There was just more meaning in this race than just the achievement of a medal. Everyone and everything that meant anything in my life or that I still hope for was represented in some way or form on the day. God was truly present every step of the way. I experienced the true spirit of Comrades,” she said.

Mathapelo Mabaso says she started running in 2012 because she could no longer play soccer and needed to stay active.

Her journey with races started with the iconic Totalsports Women’s Race which celebrates all women on Women’s Day. Each year runners and walkers of all ages are treated to a 10km or 5km route in Cape Town, Durban and Johannesburg.

She went in to race regularly in 2017 and says Comrades was always on her bucket list. Unlike many Comrades runners, Mathapelo says for her, one Comrades medal is enough.

“I’m happy I started and finished the race. It was a bucket list item. I’ve done it. And that’s it for me,” she says.

Only time will tell if Mathapelo won’t want to scratch that “back- to-back” itch that most first time Comrades finishers get.

The Back-to-back medallists

Comrades has many medals, amongst them is the back-to-back medal which is awarded after a runner’s second run, having gone back-to-back in consecutive years. A successful back-to-back Comrades runner is celebrated by being awarded two medals on the day.

The BAR crew had three back to back runners this year.

Njabulo Mkhize is one of them. Known for his joyful demeanour on and off the road, Njabulo says Comrades was a dream, which was realised for the second time this year.

“The second attempt was brutal. I thought I had done enough in training and was fit for a better finish. But at the end it did not work out on the day, but determination took me to the end,” he said. Njabulo’s finishing time was 11:38:08.

For Thato Mogopodi, Comrades was a bucket list item, and also a test of his limits and strength.

This year’s race saw him improve his time by about an hour to 10:43:13, a great achievement.

“I was super excited, extremely happy and over the moon. It felt like achieving the impossible, something beyond reach. It feels like a dream. It’s an awesome feeling,” he says.

Many would describe Jimmy Sekgale as a freak of nature. His running ability seems to have gone from zero to 100 in a very short space of time, earning him the nickname MgiJimmy. He ran last week’s 87.7km at an average pace of five minutes per kilometre. This meant that he finished the race in a time of 7:20:05 – miles away from his peers at the BAR crew.

MgiJimmy says he started running occasionally in 2011 when he had gained weight.

“I didn’t know anything about official races or running teams at the time until late 2019 when I met my friend Nqobani on a run along Malibongwe Drive in Randburg. My first official race was in 2019 – Soweto Marathon and I finished with a time of 5h10,” he says.

About last week’s Comrades performance, which saw him improve his time by over 1 hour 20 minutes, he says: “I’m very excited because I really worked hard for this and it’s a great sign to everyone that anything is possible. I spent sleepless nights, monthly visits to chiropractor for maintenance and sports massages (of course this goes with money), had a good diet, paid a personal trainer so I can be in good shape – all in the name of running. You just need to be very dedicated, disciplined and focused on what you want to achieve. There are many distractions along this route of running but we conquer those by showing up for training,” he said.

The Green Number

Each year hundreds of athletes from South Africa and around the world aspire to be inducted into the Comrades Marathon Green Number Club. When a runner has a Comrades green number it means they have completed the epic ultramarathon ten times or more, which earns them a place on the coveted Comrades Green Number Roll of Honour.

Additionally, these runners retain their race numbers from year to year and get an automatic qualifier to run the Comrades race whenever they wish.

At BAR, Thabisang Mabale, who started running Comrades in 2009 (a year after he started running), earned his green number last Sunday with a sterling performance and finishing time of 9:48:43.

“Receiving my green number gave me an awesome feeling of fulfilment, and realisation of a dream that started 15 years ago. The green number represents a lot of things for me. It has built my patience and resilience, discipline, determination and the willingness to press on when the chips are down,” he said.

The Winners

All runners who laced up and started the race are winners. Congratulations to the rest of the BAR members:

In 2019 Thuladu Zulu completed his back-to-back Comrades without much training because he had been injured for most of the year. In 2022, he didn’t do the requisite training and did not finish. He says of his Comrades experience, “There’s a scripture that reads, whoever exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted. I think in 2019, I was humble, and God exalted me, so I finished. Last year I exalted myself, and I was humbled and so did not finish.” Thuladu did his training this year and achieved a finishing time of 11:17:59 last Sunday.

Vuyisile Mfecane, also known as Vuyisizzle, used to run as part of soccer endurance training. A friend of his then convinced him to run a half marathon, 21km, and so they trained together. He ran his first official race in 2015, the Diepkloof Half Marathon in Soweto. “I haven’t looked back since. I found running to be a great escape but also a therapeutic way to deal with personal challenges in every area of my life,” he said. Vuyisizzle ran his 4th consecutive Comrades, clocked his personal best Comrades run at 10:28:08.

Coach Sifiso Ndaba, an unofficial Comrades’ recruiter, ran an incredible personal best of 9:13:01. This after hip replacement surgery, a few years earlier, that meant he could not play any contact sport like soccer, which he loved. That’s how Sifiso’s running journey began. His doctor said he could only swim, cycle or run. He chose running.

Kudos to all the Syans, our sister running crew, namely Biko Managa, Busi Khumalo and Letlhogonolo Ubane – and to my friend Bantse Maleka for making the impossible, possible.

Witnessing the physical and mental strength displayed by all the runners, especially the female and male winners, Gerda Steyn and Tete Dijane was awe-inspiring. Both displayed incredible strength and endurance with record finishing times of 5:44:54 and 5:13:58 respectively.

The Supporter

There may be a bias in my saying so, but the unsung hero in all of this, is the Comrades supporter. Supporting the Comrades runners was arduous. The race demands physical endurance from a supporter, like in my case, having to carry 4 heavily packed bags (food, drinks, electrolytes, painkillers, tissues, chaffing cream etc. for the runners) up a 1km steep hill to the Comrades halfway point – Drummond, which was my first stop.

The race also demands logistical acumen from the support team. Moving from one point to another along the 87.7km route is quite demanding of your sanity as you need to ensure that you arrive on time to provide the runners with their much-needed sustenance. Add to that, contending with traffic on the route, and road works to navigate and you may find the task more demanding than running Comrades. Lol.

My husband and I missed each other at the halfway point, so off I went to find another accessible water point to park. I guessed my way to the Hillcrest supporters point, which was about 55km from the starting line in Pietermaritzburg. Luckily I got there in time and he got his nutritional boost.

If you’ve ever watched the reality show, The Amazing Race, navigating my way from one point to the next, with little or no clue about where I had to go, felt like that. I missed my sister at the 70km point, and had to race to catch her at the 75km point at Westville Mall.

My journey necessitated for detours and constant adjustments to make sure both husband and sister were taken care of on their physically and mentally demanding journey.

Supporting the runners is also very rewarding experience and inspiring. The Comrades Marathon continues to be a symbol of endurance, perseverance, and the indomitable human spirit. Seeing them struggle through it all, and then triumphant at the end is enough to make you want to test your own limits. So, Comrades 2024, here I come? – dikatso@mukurukuru.co.za