POLOKWANE – Ungedzani Pfano hopes to one day set a national 800m record.
The 23-year-old from Tshidzini village in the Vhembe district took up athletics while he attended Tshamutshedzi Primary School.
He competed in the 100m and 200m but when he went to a secondary school in Funzwani, he decided to drop the latter item and instead compete in the 800m.
In 2020, Pfano started to train with coach Tshinyadzo Mudau, whose training programme saw them often run 32km from Tshidzini to Mhinga village.
“He inspired me to fulfil my dream. I then joined the team of NN Running under coach Hendrick Raamala, who is a Olympic silver medallist. As I struggled to find a sponsor, I decided to return home but last year I was called by Nedbank Running Club coach Lodwick Mamabola,” he explained and added he made the move to Gauteng and later trained alongside Caster Semenya as part of Masai Club.
Pfano said at the time he often trained at the University of Pretoria and was excited to receive a call from their team’s manager.
“She told me that I should run short and long distances (800m, 10km and 20km) for the university,” he said.
Pfana has run numerous marathons in the Western Cape and Durban but his wish is to run at an international race.
“I want to put Vhembe on the map. Traderoot is my sponsor and they help make sure I can fulfil my dream. Thanks to them, I can push myself of setting an 800m record,” he concluded.
