Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 115, February 2019 | Page 20

ROAD RUNNING
Glittering
Career
Fortunately, that early start
in marathoning did not put
Nuno off running. In fact, the
running bug bit him so hard that
he immersed himself in all things
running, posting another sub-three finish
in 1980, and a fourth in 1981, by then aged
18. Today, 42 years after that first sub-three, his
impressive running CV includes an astonishing 107
sub-three marathons, some of which were run during
ultra-marathon races, and he has posted a remarkable
series of sub-three times in five different decades:
1978 – 2:57
1981 – 2:51
1991 – 2:32
2002 – 2:40
2013 – 2:58
Started
with a
Dare
He also boasts a Double Green number at Comrades,
earned in 2018, with 17 silver medals and a best of
6:11:42 to his name, and his love of running ultras has
also seen him complete the Two Oceans 18 times,
with a best of 3:28:56 and 10 consecutive silvers
amongst his 11 sub-fours, as well as finish 25 Loskop
50km ultra-marathons. “My original goal at Comrades
was 20 silvers, but 20 races and 17 silvers is good
enough. I am happy now,” he says.
Nuno’s running career is pretty impressive by
anyone’s standards, but one cannot help wonder how
much more he could have done in running had he not
decided to stop running whilst doing National Service
in the Army in 1983. In fact, he may never have
returned to the sport had his mother not asked him
to start again. In 1989, while slowly losing the battle
against cancer, she urged him to take up running
again, and today he often runs in memory of her.
In an incredible marathoning
career that has spanned five
decades, Nuno Thomaz has
been a top runner, coach,
manager, mentor and inspiration,
and he’s done it while overcoming
illness and injury problems that
could have ended his running
career. – BY MANFRED SEIDLER
F
or the bulk of South African road runners,
breaking three hours for the marathon distance
is a dream goal, and many talented athletes
spend years trying to crack that barrier. Now imagine
running a sub-three at the tender age of just 15
years... That’s what Nuno Filipe Thomaz did in 1978,
and he did it to win a bet with his older brother,
Gilberto, to see who would break the three-hour
barrier first! Gilberto is 18 months older, but Nuno
claimed bragging rights when he clocked 2:57 in an
unofficial run from Kempton Park to Pretoria, and
then repeated the feat ‘legally’ in 1979 at the George
Claassen Marathon in Pretoria.
Both Nuno and his brother led active lives while at
school, playing various sports, but it wasn’t the sport
that made their incredible running at such a young
age possible, it was the 60km return journey that they
cycled each day to get to school and back that laid the
foundation. Ironically, Nuno is now a respected running
coach, and says he would never recommend that
anyone attempt a marathon at age 15, never mind chase
a sub-three time. “The challenge was actually silly, but
you know what it’s like when you are a teenager... dares
are there to be taken on,” he says with a smile.
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ISSUE 115 FEBRUARY 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
Given his long running career and impressive times,
it’s clear that Nuno is gifted with great running genes
– although as a coach, he knows that consistent
hard work is still required – but there have been a few
health and injury setbacks along the way. In 2006 he
experienced a feeling of tiredness and sluggishness
that just would not go away, and spent many hours
at numerous doctors to no avail, until in 2010 he was
diagnosed with Chrohn’s Disease, an inflammatory
bowel disease, and put on medication for the rest of
his life.
“It’s an infection of the intestines and colon that
causes severe weight loss and abdominal pain, and
sluggishness, and it took four years to find the cause,”
says Nuno. “In that time I had four years of up and
down running performances, so I thought it was
remarkable that I was still able to finish fourth master
and earn another silver medal at age 50 with a 3:59
finish in the 2013 Two Oceans, in spite of my medical
issues. I am especially proud of that one.”
Then in 2014 Nuno had some more bad luck when
he stepped into a pothole whilst running a 10km race
in George, and hurt his back seriously, once again
spending hours with the doctors and physio trying
to fix the problem. Eventually he was diagnosed with
damage to the L5-S1 disks and told that he needed
an operation to have them fused, but he put it off
until April 2016 – and then only went for the operation
McNally
A young Nuno
in running
action
Health & Fitness Issues