Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 109, Aug 2018 | Page 14

Following
Madoko
ROAD RUNNING
They come running into the finish line, chanting, dancing, big smiles on faces, obviously having a whale of a time even
though they’re tired, sweaty and sore. On the one hand, they’re relieved to be finishing, and ecstatic to have hit their
target time, but on the other hand they don’t want the race to end, because they’re having so much fun! These are the
passengers of Madoko’s Bus, driven by legendary pacesetter and coach Madoko Ndhlovu. – BY SEAN FALCONER
Lord have mercy on me). “When it is tough out there on
the road, I start humming the song, and the people just
hum along. But when it’s going good, we sing and chant,
and people like the vibey atmosphere.”
Unsurprisingly, Madoko’s buses attract a lot of
passengers, but he says, “I’m not worried about the
size of the bus, I’m worried about how people will
finish the race, so I make sure that even the person
right at the back of the bus gets the info. That’s also
why I ask everybody to pick a partner and work
together – they must know each other’s names, and
motivate each other to keep going, like brothers in
arms. I’ve seen people exchange telephone numbers
after the race because they want to stay in touch
after the incredible brotherhood of the bus. I also get
people who have run Comrades for 20 years saying
they have never enjoyed it more than when running
with my bus, and that makes it all worthwhile.”
LEADING THE WAY
Madoko (50) runs his own building construction
company in Pretoria, having previously worked for
Telkom for 20 years, and he is married, with two sons
aged 26 and 19, both very talented soccer players. As
a youngster, Madoko played volleyball, softball and
soccer, but he started running in 2000 with his brother,
who was working and running for Transnet, and that’s
where he heard the guys talking about Comrades and
decided to run it in 2001. “That was fun, something
out of this world. I ran one of my best times that
year, 8:40, but I also saw people were suffering due
to inexperience, so the following year, by which time
I had become chairman of the Telkom running club,
I started training the members. That’s where my
coaching and mentoring started,” he says.
Soon he was pacing clubmates in races to achieve
target times or qualifiers, and in 2004 he unveiled his
now famous Madoko Bus flag, so that any runners
who wanted to stick with him could find him at races,
and his buses became hugely popular. “I ran sub-4:00
buses at most of the marathons I was doing and
delivered them all on time, but I realised the faster
runners can often do it by themselves, whereas the
slower runners need more help, so I moved to sub-
5:00 to help others qualify for the big ultras.”
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ISSUE 109 AUGUST 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
W
ith his distinctive singing, chanting and even
some dancing, well known pacesetter Madoko
Ndhlovu has his bus passengers hanging
on his every word as they follow him home in races. “At
the beginning I tell them, I am Coach Madoko, I am your
driver today, and I am going to change the way you run,
talk and smile. I want them to know what to expect from
their driver, right from the first kilometre, and then it’s
tuck in your stomach and heel to toe!” says Madoko. He
also teaches his passengers a few songs and chants,
including what has become known as Madoko’s Anthem,
Morena re hauhele (a Sotho hymn, which translates to