Jazz muso Mandisi Dyantyis clocks-in impressive time at Comrades Marathon

South African musician Mandisi Dyantyis has ticked off the Comrades Marathon from his to-do list after completing the race in an impressive time.

“I run marathons. I really love long runs and being on the open road for 42km or something like that,” averred Dyantyis in 2021.

Love for running

“In the future I will be running the Comrades Marathon.”

The Somandla singer was one of the 17,313 athletes who ran and finished the race before the 12 hour cut-off time.

Crossing the line just after 3PM, Dyantyis’ finish time was 9:33:58 at an average pace of 06:41 min/km.

A total of 18,884 participants made it to the start in Durban and 17,313 runners reached the finish in Pietermaritzburg within the 12-hour cut-off (91.68% finish rate).

The singer was spotted at the race by fans who shared his photos on social media. The Citizen hadn’t received a response from Dyantyis and his team at the time of publishing.

His numbers are impressive looking at how some people couldn’t even complete the race.

The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) confirmed on Tuesday that nobody died during or after Sunday’s 85.91km ultra-marathon in KwaZulu-Natal.

555 runners received medical treatment at the finish venue at Scottsville racecourse (most of them for dehydration and exhaustion), and though 79 individuals were taken to hospital for treatment, only 21 were admitted.

According to CMA medical convenor Jeremy Boulter, those who were admitted to hospital were “doing well”, and by Monday night 18 of them had been sent home. The other three were also expected to make full recoveries.

ALSO READ: Comrades Marathon runners who were hospitalised are ‘doing well’

National Arts Festival

Dyantyis is performing at the upcoming National Arts Festival in Makhanda alongside an eight-piece band.

Zoë Modiga who recently launched her album Nomthandazo will also be performing at The Curated Music Programme at the festival, including seasoned muso Sipho ‘Hotstix’ Mabuse.

This year the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality supports the South African National Jazz Orchestra in partnership with Mandela Bay Theatre Complex.

This is in addition to the Dakawa Jazz Programme, an Eastern Cape-focused music programme supported by the Eastern Cape Department of Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture.

The Makhanda Jazz Festival, incorporating the National Youth Jazz Festival, runs for a period within the Festival, and once again features South African greats and newbies.

Other highlights of the festival celebrating its 50^th anniversary include the six 2023 Standard Bank Young Artists will present their new works.

Standard Bank Young Artist for Theatre, MoMo Matsunyane, takes the role of writer and director to explore themes of manipulation and deceit when a charming new priest offers a better life to an impoverished community in her work Ka Lebitso La Moya.

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