Comrades bus driver enjoys his nearly decade-running jouney with Waterfall City Athletic Club
"Being an official pacesetter at 2023 Comrades Marathon was my major achievement and happy that I delivered many people in time especially novices in my bus," said Waterfall City Athletic Club member.
Waterfall City Athletics Club member, who started running in 2014 after participating in his first-ever Soweto Marathon, has never looked back.
Nine years later, Sibusiso Mthembu (36), originally from Springs, now has full membership with the Waterfall-based running club for three years.
He said when he saw the club profile on social media, he did not hesitate to join such a big professional club with good results from development to veterans.
“I learnt a lot from this club compared to the previous local clubs I ran for. The Waterfall City Athletic Club made me break some limits and have growth. I grew up doing running as a hobby during school holidays so then I ran my first race in 2014 – Soweto Marathon 10km – and that’s when I got hooked and fell in love with running,” said Mthembu.
He said due to the atmosphere at the race and the vibe made, he realised that he must do it as a life-house and not a hobby anymore. Asked what was some of his highlight moments with the club, Mthembu who was selected as an official bus driver at the 2023 Comrades Marathon, said this was his major achievement in his running career.
“And I can say I broke the record after being selected officially by the biggest race Comrades Marathon. Being an official pacesetter at the 2023 Comrades Marathon was my major achievement and happy that I delivered many people in time especially novices in my bus”.
He said since he is a bus driver, his ambition is to help and make sure runners finish races in style and in time, particularly in qualifying races and ensure that runners get to the finish line before the cut-off time. Mthembu said wants to help those that are not confident enough to break their limits and run with the bus so they can realise their potential and strength.
He said his hilarious moment was when he was doing 10km, and most passengers who were now used to being in his unofficial bus, ran with him only to find out later that he was doing 10km and not 21km as they had thought.
Giggles, “So when we had to split for 21km and 10km, it was funny because everyone that was doing 21km that was next to me still followed me despite telling them that I was doing 10km. They all said we also going to do 10km because we are following our leader…that was the funny moment I encountered,” concluded Mthembu.
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