Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 125, December 2019 | Page 20

ROAD RUNNING
Siblings Sibonelo and Nontuthuko Mashimane decided in 2019 to each take
on the daunting challenge of running a 100-mile race, in order to inspire their
community and show others that anything can be achieved if you put your mind
to it. – BY SEAN FALCONER
I
n Pietermaritzburg, most people’s running
aspirations are focused on the Comrades Marathon.
After all, this is where the race was born shortly after
the First World War, and over the last nearly 100 years,
the roughly 89km race has grown into probably the
world’s most famous ultra-marathon. However, there
are some runners who want to go still further, and
this small, select group of athletes usually find that
the next step is a 100 miler, or 161km ultra – almost
double the length of the Comrades! Only a small, select group of athletes tackle this race
each year, often with less than 100 making it to the
finish line, and earning your Washie tracksuit as an
official finisher is considered a huge achievement in
SA running circles. Similarly, only a few runners are
brave enough to tackle the same distance on trail, and
thus finishing an event such as the tough Karkloof 100
Miler in the KwaZulu-Natal Midlands and earning the
unique race belt buckle is also seen as a real feather
in a runner’s cap.
The most famous 100-miler in SA is the Washie, run
between Cathcart and East London in the Border
area on the weekend nearest the full moon in July. With that in mind, one can see why the brother and
sister running duo from Maritzburg, Sibonelo and
Nontuthuko Mashimane, really caught the attention
of their fellow runners when they announced their
plans to both tackle their first 100 miler in 2019 – he
would do it on tar at the Washie, while she would
follow suit two months later on the trails of Karkloof.
“It was our dream as siblings to both do our 100-miler
races as brother and sister within one year, and not
only that, but to become the first ever siblings from
Pietermaritzburg and in our African culture to achieve
this feat. Who knows, we could even be the first ever
siblings in the country to achieve this feat,” says
Sibonelo.
“We are siblings who grew up in Pietermaritzburg and
have lived in the same house all our life, and we both
are enthusiastic runners, but this feat in particular
has certainly never been achieved in our community.
It was our dream from last year that we wanted to
achieve this in 2019, and we have done that with
pride.”
The Dancing Runner
Sibonelo (39) works as a quality assurance
administrator in the safety and compliance industry
and has been running for 16 years. In that time he has
earned 11 Comrades medals, with an impressive best
of 7 hours 51 minutes, and he had also tackled the
12-hour Longest Day circuit race, covering 110.67km
in that time. Sibs, as he is often called, is widely
known in KZN running circles, thanks to his trademark
dancing at races. “I love the passion of being fit, and
also that it brings new challenges all the time. I am
always learning from the sport,” he says.
“I have always heard of these 100-milers, and
wanted to discover what it was all about, what it
feels like to do one. I did some research, and once I
understood the meaning behind it, that it challenges
your body to the extreme, I decided I wanted to
attempt it one day, so first I went and volunteered
to second somebody in the Midlands 100 Miler, so
that I could see what it is all about. From there, I did
more research, communicated with runners who have
done 100-milers, including Johan van der Merwe,
who was willing to share info and helped me a lot to
prepare for my own race. I kept asking myself one
20
ISSUE 125 DECEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
100-Miler
Siblings