Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 13

LEAD STORY
The crowd roared their approval and egged on
the South African, but the magic of Tergat in his
prime destroyed the field, and Shadrack and
many others were left in the wake of the kenyan’s
blistering second-last lap thrown, which decimated
the field. Shadrack finished 15 th , still the joint best
ever by a South African at a World Cross Country
Championships. “I am really proud and happy with my
run – only Stephen Mokoka has been able to equal
my position, in 2011, and now Precious Mashele was
16 th this year, so it was a really good result. There is
always that thought of what could have been, but I
have no regrets, though.”
level of competition that saw him improve dramatically.
“I was racing against the likes of Xolile Yawa, the
Mogotsi twins, Shadrack and Meshack, and the Tsebe
brothers, David and Rammy. These were amongst the
best in the country, so this was good for my running.”
Shadrack duly went to the 1992 SA Championships
in Cape Town, where he came up against Simon
Morolong in a furious battle for the 3000m title, which
Shadrack eventually won. This meeting with Simon
proved to be fortuitous, says Shadrack: “That is when
I realised my doors are open, I was beating everyone
in SACOS easily, but at SA’s I was racing another level,
and I won, so I knew I was not going back to SACOS.”
Finding His passion
Shadrack was always a trailblazer. In the 1990s,
he was the spearhead of the indomitable and
virtually unbeatable Correctional Services team that
dominated most races they entered... unless Hendrick
Ramaala also made an appearance. Then it was
fireworks of a level reminiscent of the days when
Xolile Yawa, Mathews ‘Loop en Val’ Motshwarateu,
Mathews Temane and the like raced on the streets of
South Africa. Shadrack and Hendrick enjoyed some
incredible duels, and Hendrick would repeatedly say,
“The only runner in South Africa I fear is Shadrack. He
is such a fierce competitor and natural runner, I have
to work three times as hard if I want to beat him.”
Even today, aged 46, the grace and ease with which
Shadrack churns out the miles is a marvel to watch,
seemingly effortless and always with a spring and
bounce in his step, but how did a slight and slender
kid turn into one of the most prolific middle distance
athletes South Africa has ever seen? Like so many
other kids, Shadrack actually did not start with
athletics, but rather he could be found on the streets
of Promosa, outside of Potchefstroom, kicking a ball
or playing cricket. In fact, cricket was his first big love.
“When I was growing up in Potchefstroom, it was not
about running for me. It was cricket, and I was an all-
rounder, bat and ball,” he recalls with that infectious grin.
“And when I turned 16, I was playing football until I was
approached by this elderly uncle, who has now passed
away. It was Mr Feris who said to me, come, leave this
thing, go and run.” Shadrack’s fitness from playing
hours of football helped him get into the running scene
smoothly, and his natural ability quickly shone through.
He therefore decided to take a chance and give the
running thing a go. “There was this guy, Nico Dearling,
he was the main guy of Promosa. I asked him if I can join
him. He said to me, ‘Are you an athlete?’ and I said yes, I
am an athlete, even though I hadn’t really been running,”
recalls Shadrack with a grin.
Big Breakthrough
and Sacos, the alternative (non-white) sport bodies.
“I was in SACOS, even though I was training at
Pukke, and I had to run in Sacos, where I was beating
everyone. The main man in SACOS in those days was
Owen Machelm from the Western Cape. He was the
only competition, so I just decided to stop running for
SACOS and ran in the ‘established races.’ This was in
1992. I went to run the then West Transvaal Provincial
Championships and qualified for SA’s.”
However, when he arrived back at school on the
Monday, the teacher who was in charge of athletics
at Promosa High School was waiting for him. “I was
kicked out of running for them. It was Mr Swartz, and I
still remember his exact words: ‘Gaan hardloop saam
met die Boere.’ I could still go to school, but I was not
allowed to run with them. They were very angry. Mr
Swartz and I have actually become good friends since
then, and we still talk about it today.”
Shadrack has no regrets, however, because running
with the ‘established clubs and races’ exposed him to a
Pukke continued to look after Shadrack and he
steadily improved, qualifying for the World Junior
Championships in South Korea at those South African
Champs. In Korea, he competed in the 5000m race
won by an athlete who was to become one of the
greatest ever athletes to set foot on the track and road,
Haile Gebrselassie, with another future great, Hicham
El-Guerrouj, taking third. Shadrack finished sixth, with
Simon 10 th . “We were the first Junior team to be able to
compete on the world stage since readmission, and the
likes of Ockert Brits, Burger Lamprechts and Hezekiel
Sepeng were also in the team.”
Korea was to prove a watershed moment in Shadrack’s
career, as it led to him being approached by Dutchman
Jos Hermens, who now runs the largest and most
successful athlete management company in the world,
Global Sports Communication. This agency has looked
after the career of Haile and many others, and more
recently Eliud Kipchoge, so Shadrack had met the right
man at the right time, but admits he had no idea about
agents and managers, as this was all still new territory
for him. Jos asked me for my contact details, but in
those days we did not have cellphones, so I told him at
which school I was and forgot the whole thing.”
A few days later, Shadrack was summoned to the
principal’s office. “Here I thought, what now? But they
said to me, ‘There is this guy who speaks a strange
Afrikaans who called and wants to talk to you. He
explained who he is, so tomorrow at one o’clock,
you will be here in the office and talk to him.’ I was
Nico was a Comrades runner, so Shadrack was
introduced to distance at a very early age. “I didn’t
really know what I was doing. I just ran, so when I
joined Nico, I would be part of a group that was taken
out 30km towards Klerksdorp and we would run back.
We would do this three times a week. I was only 17
then.” Nico then took Shadrack to go run for the Pukke
(Potchefstroom University), even though he was not part
of the University. “Till today, I do not know why Nico
took me to Pukke, because he was with the Kenneth
McArthur Club, but that is how I got into running track.”
Pulled Into Politics
When Shadrack started running with Pukke in 1990
there were still two sports bodies in South Africa, the
so-called established sports bodies (read white clubs),
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