Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 127, February 2020 | Page 15

but once I left school I did not have the support,
advice and option to carry on,” she says.
It was actually through firefighting that
her running passion was fired up again,
thanks to the influence of a work colleague
who had completed the Comrades and
Two Oceans many times. “He started to
give me advice and guidance on running
when I joined the Fire Department in
2003. This was the first time I was able
to get proper direction in my running,”
says Enie. “Running gave me strength and
encouragement, and today it remains my
quiet time, my ‘me time,’ but because of my
shift work, I have to get up early to train.”
While running fitness plays an important role in her
work, Enie has also enjoyed quite some success in her
road running career. Her steady improvement through
the years saw her run her first Comrades in 2011,
crossing the line in 10:02:33, and just the next year she
brought her time down to 8:29:05 for a first Bill Rowan
medal. After missing the 2013 Comrades due to work
commitments, Enie was back in 2014 (8:18:34) and
2015 (8:14:24), but the first signs of her true potential
came in 2016, when she missed the silver cut off by
just six minutes, coming home in 7:36:25.
With a few smaller Joburg race victories to her name,
she lined up in the Johnson Crane Marathon in January
2017, alongside several women with Comrades gold
medals to their names, and emerged the surprise
winner of the race. After that year’s Comrades, her
phone rang one morning, and to Enie’s great surprise, it
was Ann Ashworth on the line, saying she was forming
an elite women’s squad under the banner of Massmart,
and wanted to know if Enie would like to be part of
the team. “It was at that moment I knew God had
answered my prayers,” says Enie.
Comrades Glory
With access to proper coaching under the guidance
of Dave Coetzee, a structured running and racing
Enie in firefighting gear
plan, and expert nutritional advice, Enie rapidly went
from being just a good runner to regularly challenging
for podium places at local races. She also went from
a solid Bill Rowan medallist at Comrades, having
clocked 8:34:03 in 2017, to earning that silver medal
in 2018 – and she could have gone faster than 7:21:03
if not for a few unplanned loo stops in the last third of
the race due to some stomach problems.
Comrades 2018
Even better, Enie was part of the Team Massmart
quartet that ran off with the elite women’s team
prize in that 2018 Comrades, having been led home
by Ann winning the race, followed by Mia Morrison
(17 th ), Enie (18 th ) and Nandi Zaloumis (20 th ) – and all
four ran PBs on the day. That was followed by the
Isavel Roche-Kelly medal in 2019, which came after
Enie began training with Mark Wolff, and while Team
Massmart had to settle for second in the women’s
team competition, it was still another great day out for
the young team.
Enie highlights the role that good coaching, nutritional
advice and training support played in her running
transformation, as well as the change in mindset and
drive that comes from being part of a professional
running set-up. “Joining Team Massmart motivated
me, and to be in an elite team has changed my
running completely. It’s been a great experience and
an inspiration for me to be part of this team.”
International Debut
In January this year, Enie had her first taste of
international competition when she and Massmart
team mates Lizzy Babili Ramadimetja and Melinda
Jansen van Vuuren lined up for the Standard
Chartered Dubai Marathon. Enie crossed the line 16 th
in 2:56:24, and says she was a little disappointed with
her run. “It was amazing to run there, but I did not get
the time I wanted, because of a minor injury I picked
up the week before the race. I really wanted to break
2:50, but that injury did not help.”
“It was an incredible experience – everything is so
clean and the race is so incredibly well organised – so
I wouldn’t mind going back, but it is expensive. The
exchange rate is five to one, and food is not cheap,
but I would definitely like to go back. I would also like
to run New York, Abu Dhabi, Berlin or Amsterdam
one day. I have to say that Massmart helped me
substantially to make this trip possible. Without them
it would have been difficult.”
But now it is back to South African racing, and Enie
says she is really fired up to go after that Comrades
gold in June. Few would bet against her achieving
her dream, given that the dedication and discipline
she has already shown to overcome the challenges
of being a single mom and juggling long, demanding
work hours.
Finishing 18 th at Comrades 2018
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