Margate sprinter Bandile sets his sights on new goals

Record-breaking athlete Bandile Ngidi (26) encourages people to challenge themselves to get into shape during the lockdown period.

The former sprinter is doing just that, with the recent lockdown giving him time to reset and focus on new goals.

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He was raised in Margate Extension 3 and went on to Port Shepstone High, where he excelled in sport, especially athletics.

The 2012 matriculant has been working as a teacher and sports coach in Pretoria for the past three years, having attended the University of Pretoria after school.

However, he has now relocated to the coast and is looking forward to making a contribution here.

Bandile says he discovered his athletics talent in rather ‘creepy’ way.

“We stayed in an area where the dogs would chase us every day. I soon discovered I was always the one way out in front. One of my friends also noticed this. He told his father about my talent and they took me to Kings Park Stadium in Durban to run at an athletics meeting, so that’s where it all started,” he said.

In 2012, coached by Patrice Poisson, he achieved athletics honours at school, breaking the records for 100m, 200m, 400m and winning the KwaZulu-Natal championships for the 200m and 400m.

“I completed the 100m in 10.9 seconds, and until now, no one has come close to breaking this record together with the 200m and 400m sprints. I have even offered a reward of R1000 to any athlete who breaks any of my records,” he said.

Bandile is passionate about athletics and has sacrificed much for the sport.

He comes from a family that believes academics is paramount and sport is a distraction.

“I remember having to lie to my parents, telling them that I was going to extra classes when I was instead going to training,” he said.

At Tuks, he ran under coach Hennie Kotze and trained alongside the likes of LJ van Zyl, Cornel Fredericks and Ofentse Mogoawane.

It was predicted that he would be ‘one for the future’, due to his work rate and positive attitude.

It hasn’t quite turned out that way. Not yet. Back then he ran a personal best of 47:59 seconds in the 400m.

He was clocking one of the fastest times for the U23s, but an injury niggle ruled him out of competing in the SA U23 Championships.

His schedule was limited due to the injury, and on top of that, he began to battle balancing sport and studies, and as a result he skipped training.

“I slowly lost the passion because competing when you don’t train proved too stressful.”

When his studying was done, he secured a teaching post at Hoerskool CR Swart in Pretoria, where his new commitments gave him even less time to train.

“Being a teacher is a lot of work because you have to prepare everyday, along with all the marking. I was also coaching soccer and athletics and would leave school at 5pm everyday, exhausted,” he said.

So, he decided to take a break from athletics and during those years he gained weight, quite a lot, going from 65kg to 81kg.

When he returned home to visit, the (sometimes nasty) comments from people who knew him would inevitably refer to his weight gain or how they thought he’d be competing at the Olympics by now.

The recent lockdown has given him time to set some new goals, two to be specific.

He wants to run the 400m in under 45 seconds, and he wants to win an international title.

“I still believe I can achieve these goals.” Bandile has started with the basic training of strengthening his body again. In the past, when he had returned to his home town for visits, he would train young boys who didn’t have any form of support, often giving away kits and medals.

“I helped finance some of them to run in provincials races. I liked to give a medal to the person who finished last, to motivate them that they can finish first. I’ve experienced that and it’s discouraging. To be your best you don’t have to be rich, you use what you have and see where it leads,” he said.

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