Israel Madibane represents Comrades values, valour

With Comrades fever all the rage and the Comrades just three days away, master athlete Israel Madibane is representative of a Comrades athlete and what they stand for.
He is a well-known masters athlete in local races, a man whose name features for many years among the top three athletes in his age group. This year he won the masters’ category in the local Seeff race in January and last year October he won the same category in the Mazda Night Race in Polokwane, among others.
“Age is just a number, and I want to show and tell that to the youngsters out there,” says Madibane, who will be running his 14th Comrades Marathon this year.
At the age of 42, 13 years ago, Israel Madibane decided he was too old for soccer, and needed to do something else not to become a couch potato. He contemplated taking up tennis, but decided against it and took up running instead, on the advice of his friend and mentor, Ignitious “Mazda” Kgomo, who still trains with him.
He never looked back, and hopes to run until he achieved his second green number. Madibane has won seven silver medals and six Bill Rowan medals during the time he ran the Comrades, and hope there will be many more still to come. He secretly hopes to win gold this year, but just say he plans to run a sub six hours, 25 minutes Comrades. He plans to run the first 60 km in four hours, averaging four minutes per kilometre, and thereafter five minutes per kilometre in the last 29 km.
Asked what drives him to keep on running he said he wants to keep fit and healthy.
“It also keeps me mentally fit,” he says.
His wife, Mirriam is a netball coach, and she is the one who wakes him up in the early mornings to go running. She does not run herself, but will be going with him to support him all the way. She feeds him fruit and carbohydrates in preparation for the Comrades. He is not superstitious at all, saying the Comrades is not about muti but about training and preparing well. “Muti cannot help,” he says.” Comrades is about training.”
Other than keeping fit he believes in mental preparation. “I prepare by focussing on the way and planning what to do where along the way. To sit down and plan is very important.”
“ My good friend Eric Ledwaba must know that he will have to run to keep up with me, as I plan to do a sub-six hours 25 minutes Comrades,” Madibane says.
So far he was injury-free and completed the Comrades marathon every year. To recover after the Comrades he does cross-training and swimming.
He is sports coordinator at Gen Piet Joubert School. A disciplined athlete, he averages 100 km a week when training, and train with a group of people, who keep each other motivated. He belongs to the Eskom Gijimas Athletics club, and hopes that in ten years’ time he will still be able to run. Deep in his heart he aims for gold this year. He will leave today (Thursday) to join the 18 000 or so other athletes for the down run on Sunday.
He was born 55 years ago in the old location, New Look, Polokwane as one of four siblings, one of whom has passed on. His father is still alive, and Madibane knows that he is very proud of him, and this motivates him to do well and strive harder to reach his goal.

Featured Photo: Nelie Erasmus – Israel Madibane, local Comrades runner strives for gold.

NELIE ERASMUS
>>nelie.observer@gmail.com