TRAIL
Celebrating in style on the top step of the podium at MaxiRace
Brandon with his family , wife Danielle and daughter Mileah
After my studies , I worked in the Eastern Cape for two years , on a wildlife farm on the border of the Transkei , but that wasn ’ t an ideal area to start a family , so I looked for something down here in George . Unfortunately , the Western Cape ’ s Garden Route area is not really known for wildlife , so I changed things completely and got into finance . I started working at Sanlam in 2018 and was there until last year , doing short-term insurance , and in October 2022 I opened up my own brokerage business .
MA : And your sporting background ? I read that rugby was a big focus for you at first .
BH : I grew up doing everything , including athletics , but I was never really a fast runner , so I used to do the 800m in primary school , and the high jump . Once I got to high school , the level of competition in the 800m was much higher and I didn ’ t feature , so I focused on the high jump , and I made the KZN side when I was under-13 , went to the SA Champs and finished fourth . But I realised my height was against me , as the elite guys were so much taller than me .
So , from grade eight , I focused on rugby , and everything was about rugby right through to Matric . I still did athletics on the side , but it was purely for speed and endurance for rugby . I also spent a lot of time in the gym , doing rugby-specific stuff . I was actually under-age , as I had gone to school a year early , so in grade 11 , the school offered me a rugby bursary and asked if I wanted to repeat a year and get to the correct age in Matric , so I did that and matriculated in 2011 . When I moved down to George , I played for the NMMU George team in the local SWD league as well as for NMMU in the Varsity Cup , and was involved with the SWD Eagles provincial under-21s .
general work , so when I moved into cycling and running , it ’ s not like I had to lose weight specifically for that , it just happened naturally over the two years that I was there . I am still quite muscular from the years of gymming , and I find I can put on muscle quite easily , so now I try not to do too much upper body strength stuff , and just try keep as lean as possible .
In running , the lighter you are , the more efficient you are , as I found in the Comrades . In trail running , especially the 100km and 100-mile distances , it ’ s a lot more to do with endurance and leg strength , so I don ’ t need to be as light as I would need to be for the Comrades . Weight doesn ’ t play too much of a role in the longer trails , and carrying a few extra kilograms doesn ’ t really do any harm over that distance , but I still try to be in the best shape possible .
MA : You ’ ve run one Comrades , clocking a really fast 7:11:30 for a silver medal in 2022 . Did you think of doing it again this year ?
BH : I would have loved to have done the back-to-back , but because they changed the date back to June this year , it meant MUT was only two weeks before Comrades , and it was too close to run 100 miles followed two weeks later by the Comrades . It looks like it ’ s going to be like that in the future , so I ’ m going to need to make decisions on what race to choose . Later , of course , because next year MUT is the big one for me .
MA : Did you think about pursuing rugby as a career ? BH : No , because moving to the Eastern Cape and working on the game farms meant and there was no rugby , and no gyms , so I went from being a 95-kilogram fullback at my peak , to low 80s or so on the farm . When I came back to George , my life had changed , and I wasn ’ t too interested in rugby anymore , but I ’ m quite a competitive person and like to push myself , so I decided to get into endurance sport . I like to set myself goals , and see where I can get with it .
During primary school I had cycled with my dad , doing a lot of the local races , so I had a bit of a background in that . Back in George , I started road and mountain biking , and raced quite a bit here in George , and in Cape Town . My brothers-inlaw are based in the Cape and also cycled , so I joined them in the Bellville Cycling Team , and we raced quite a bit together , including a few cycling tours . I enjoyed it , but eventually got more into running . I initially ran just in between cycling , but from the middle of 2019 I trained specifically for running . In late 2020 the trail running bug bit , because the trails in the George area are amazing , and we ’ ve got a great trail community here , so I managed to meet a lot of guys with similar interests and goals . Then in June 2021 , just after the George MUT event , I joined up with Brendon Lombard as my coach , and since then everything has been geared towards trail running .
MA : How did you find the transition from semi-pro rugby to competitive running , especially in such a short space of time ?
BH : It ’ s been quite a transition . In rugby , it was all about being explosive , and being muscular and bulky , where everything was about strength , lots of short sprints , and no real endurance . I lost a lot of the weight on the farm , just doing
Brandon finishing the 2022 Comrades with a silver medal time
If you ’ d like to speak to Brandon about insurance , investments and medical aid coverage , visit www . sakrado-sa . com or contact him at office @ sakrado-sa . com or 084 919 6710 .
Images : Craig Kolesky ( courtesy of MaxiRace ), Matt Bouch , Marathon Photos & courtesy New Balance
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