Athletes gear up for Comrades
A dream started to grow in a young boy’s heart as he was washing his uncle’s running shoes: one day, he too, will run marathons.
On Sunday, June 11 Lucas Seleka (42) will run his 15th Comrades Marathon.
In marathon lingo, Seleka is the bus driver of the sub-11:30 bus, meaning that he will be an official pacesetter for those who wish to finish the race within a time of 11 hours and 30 minutes.
“After I received my green (permanent) Comrades number on completing my 10th race, I decided I wanted to help those athletes struggling to keep going. The Comrades is a journey and it takes a lot of singing, praying, and encouragement to keep going after the first 60 km,” he said.
His jangling yellow tambourine and bus flag accompany him the whole way.
He ran his best Comrades time of 7:51 in 2012. This year will be his fifth run as a pacesetter. A lot of responsibility lies on the shoulders of the pace setters as they have to keep going consistently and keep their group motivated to continue.
Seleka, who grew up in Kalkbult near Settlers, is a petrol attendant at MBT Garage in Modimolle.
“I did well in athletics at school and after being inspired by my uncle’s running, I decided to try the longer distances. I completed my first Comrades in 2007.”
Seleka and a group of other athletes taking part in the ultramarathon did their last long-distance practice on the winding road from Vaalwater to Modimolle — perfect for preparing for this year’s down race.
This year marks the 96th Comrades Marathon which starts at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall and ends twelve hours later at the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban. It is a distance of 87,7 km.
Ezekiel Moatshe (53) from Phagameng is gearing up for his tenth Comrades — a magic number for runners. His target this year is to run between nine and ten hours.
Moatshe, a teacher at Lekkerbreek Primary School, says he loves running and living a healthy lifestyle. He trains a group of almost fifty runners of the athletics club Fitness for All every afternoon.
“I watched the Comrades Marathon on television as a schoolboy and dreamt of running one day. Bruce Fordyce was an amazing runner and I still often watch his training videos for motivation.”
Moatshe, a fully qualified athletics coach for middle and longer distances has a passion for developing young athletes.
“I believe young children must be given the opportunity to run from around six or seven years of age. They must develop a love for running.” He believes that there is loads of local talent that still needs to be developed. “I want to coach a national champion that resides in the Waterberg,” he laughs.
Other runners from Modimolle include Ntsako Maswanganyi, a physiotherapist, running her fourth Comrades, pastor Danie van Niekerk of the Lede in Christus Congregation running his twelfth and Johan Badenhorst, a teacher at Hoërskool Nylstroom, running his third Comrades. Father and son duo Schalk and Lukas van der Merwe is also taking on the big race with Schalk, who is doing his fifteenth race, accompanying Lukas (24) on his first Comrades.
