Runner from Midrand Striders puts in the hard work

Local resident and avid runner Tsenoli Tiheli is looking forward to the successful running season.

Tiheli is a figure that many residents will see training in the Carlswald area. A mechanical engineer by day, the 50-year-old Tiheli joined Midrand Striders in 2015.

He said before joining the club he had been a casual runner, intermittently taking on 7km or 8km runs, but it was not until he joined the club that he had set goals for himself and was given the motivation to challenge himself consistently.

He added that from 2016 to 2018 he was unsuccessful in attaining a silver medal in the Comrades Marathon which requires a runner to achieve a time below 07:30:00, but last year he was able to achieve this with a time of 07:28:25.

Tiheli said a lot of hard work had gone into achieving this with a great deal of support from his fellow Midrand Striders runners who pushed him each year. “I’ve been training extremely hard. I recently participated in the Dis-Chem Half Marathon with a time of 01:29:00. But my main race this year is the Comrades Marathon.”

Tiheli’s current goal is to maintain his sub 07:30:00 time in the Comrades which takes place in June. He has followed a rigorous training regime leading up to the race by running 90km every week but will bump this up to 110km or 120km in March prior to the race.

Tiheli credited his motivation and his hard work to Midrand Striders.

He concluded, “The Striders are more like a family than a club. They assisted in helping me set up my goals every year and worked closely with me to achieve these goals, and this motivation and family atmosphere will help this year.”

Related article:

https://www.citizen.co.za/midrand-reporter/217351/sunninghill-striders-boast-78-finishers-at-comrades-marathon-2/