ROAD RUNNING
From a humble start as a cleaner , Kwena has climbed the ranks in both work and running
Cleaner to Comrades Contender
A running Kwena is a regular early morning sight in Tembisa
One of the fundamental laws of running is that it doesn ’ t matter what your job is , what school you attended , what car you drive or where you live , when the starter ’ s gun is fired and the racing begins , it all comes down to talent , discipline , mental strength and desire , and 37-year-old Kwena Mmonwa has bucketloads of all of those ! – BY CARLI-ANN SMITH , WITH SEAN FALCONER
This running journey began in 2010 , when Kwena landed a job as a warehouse cleaner at the USN factory in Johannesburg . He found the atmosphere of the sports nutrition company infectious and was inspired by a colleague to take up running . Undeterred by his lack of resources , Kwena made the most of the little that he had , gradually increasing his training and racing mileage , and in 2013 he signed up for his first Comrades Marathon . To his surprise , he earned a silver medal after finishing his debut race in a time of 7:23:53 for the Up Run . “ I realised in that moment that this sport is open to anyone , but talent alone is not enough , you need to work hard and have self-discipline ,” he says .
Meanwhile , Kwena was also on the move at work . With a strong determination to use his cleaning job as a ‘ stepping stone ’ to greater things , he had begun volunteering to help the dispatch process of USN products . He describes using every opportunity he could get in the warehouse to learn from his fellow employees , and try to find new ways to make the dispatch process more efficient .
His managers found his work-ethic highly impressive , and in 2013 he officially became a USN staff member , working as a receiving clerk . Having spent just a few months in that position , Kwena was then promoted to Senior Warehouse Officer . “ It is very important to me to balance work and running . I call them both ‘ my children ,’ and give each of them 100 % of my time and effort , and I am very proud to have come this far in my career . I take my job as Senior Warehouse Officer very seriously ,” explains Kwena .
Inspired to Aim Higher
Having enjoyed a breakthrough year in both his work and running careers in 2013 , Kwena became more motivated than ever to train . To his colleague ’ s disbelief , he began running the 18km trip from his home in Tembisa to the USN headquarters in Centurion each morning , and then he would do it all over again to get back home in the afternoon . To accommodate his peak training ahead of the Comrades , USN also allowed Kwena to come to the office later on a Wednesday morning , so that he could first complete a long run , sometimes doing as much as 50km .
As he lined up for his sixth Comrades in 2018 , Kwena ’ s hard work finally paid off . After five years of relentless training , he shaved almost an hour off his original time of 2013 with a new personal best of 6:39:05 , finishing 94 th in the men ’ s race . And it was after this race that he decided that a gold medal for a top 10 finish wasn ’ t a big enough goal , and that he wanted to win the Comrades Marathon instead !
Determination and Discipline
Kwena finished the 2019 Comrades a little slower than he ’ d hoped , coming home in 7:19:24 to earn his fifth silver medal in seven starts , but has not let this deter him from chasing his Comrades gold dream . Therefore , in spite of the demands of his job , or the restrictions of the COVID pandemic in the last two years , Kwena continues to wake up at 4:30am each morning to run to work . His dedication is clearly deeply respected within his community in Tembisa , with many people greeting him each day as he follows his now familiar route to work .
“ People in my community see me running each morning and many of them stop to ask me questions ,” says Kwena . “ I explain to them that I run to work , do an eight-hour shift , and then still run back home each day . I want to inspire them to work hard for their dreams , too . I tell them that if I can balance my Comrades dream with a full-time job , then they can achieve anything they set their mind to as well !”
Humble Beginnings
Kwena Mmonwa ’ s inspirational story of going from cleaner to a Comrades contender is sure to inspire you .
In spite of all the hard work in training , Kwena ’ s Comrades runs in 2014 ( 8:08:38 ) and 2015 ( 8:19:46 ) did not go as well as his debut run , bringing him two Bill Rowyn medals , but in 2016 he bounced back with another silver medal performance as he came home in 7:29:32 . The following year he went still faster , clocking 7:01:02 in the 2017 Comrades and finishing in the top 200 for the first time .
This article was produced for USN by ZC Marketing Consulting and is published here with their permission .
Images : Sage Lee Voges / ZCMC
24 ISSUE 146 NOVEMBER 2021 | www . modernathlete . co . za