Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 63, October 2014 | Page 20

Ma

feature

When it comes to trail running
in South Africa, one of the
most consistent performers is
Bernard Rukadza, a softly-spoken
Zimbabwean who has lived in Cape
Town since 2008 and lets his legs
and feet do most of his talking.

Bernard and
AJ Calitz leading
at AfricanX

– BY SEAN FALCONER

E

What makes his achievements so incredible
is the fact that his training mostly consists of
running 15km to work each morning and 15km
back home again in the evenings, five days a
week, in the company of fellow Zimbabwean
Tsungai Mwanengeni, a top veteran runner in
the Cape on both road and trail. They and their
families live near to each other in Delft, near
Cape Town Airport, and both work in Tyger Valley
in the Northern Suburbs, so the ‘daily commute’
is the ideal time to get in their training.
“I know the other top guys are training more
than me, because in the morning they may be
doing two hours, and another two hours in the
afternoon or evening, so if I want to be hanging
with the lead bunch, then I need to do more to
keep up with them in races,” says Bernard. “So
every day we do 30km, and once, maybe twice
a week we run to Tygerberg Nature Reserve or
another nearby mountain first, to make it 25km
for the run home and a total of 40km for the
day. That is why we are not afraid to race long
distances, because for us it is like a daily run
to work!”
That winning
feeling

20

ISSUE 63 OCTOBER 2014 / www.modernathlete.co.za

ROAD TO TRAIL
Bernard (33) started running in school, but
didn’t take it seriously until after school. His
older brother is also an athlete, and Bernard
saw that others were making a living from
running, so he decided to give it a try himself,
and then moved to SA to run professionally. His
initial focus was on the road, but that changed
in 2009. “Eddie Lambert of Team Contego
introduced me to trail running in 2009, and it
was just for fun, I didn’t take it too seriously. I
was not even running with the right equipment,
I was using road shoes, but then I started
winning races, and I won the Winter Series
for the first time in 2010, so I started taking it
more seriously,” says Bernard. He was signed
up as part of the Contego elite squad in 2010,
which saw him kitted out with proper trail
gear, courtesy of the team’s technical sponsor,
New Balance, and he subsequently also picked
up product sponsorships from Nativa and
Racefood.
Bernard still competes on the road as well,
running for RCS Gugulethu, and has a 2:24
marathon PB and 1:06 half marathon best. The
longest he has done is the 56km Old Mutual
Two Oceans, which he ran in 2010, “but it was
too long and I didn’t have enough training for
it. It seems pointless for me to run those long
ones right now, because I cannot train enough
to finish in the top 10. One day I want to be
in the top 10 of the Two Oceans and other big
marathons, like Gauteng Marathon, and I want
to run Comrades when I am older and stronger,
but for now I am focusing on trail. Next I want
to run trail overseas, because some of the
guys I started running with here in SA are now
focused on running internationally. But mostly
I just want to run, because running means life
to me. When I’m running I am enjoying myself
and I like running more than anything else.”

Images: Cherie Vale/Newsport Media & Jeff Ayliffe Media

arlier this year, Bernard teamed up with
top SA trailer AJ Calitz to win the three-day
ProNutro AfricanX Trailrun, was on course to
win the Jonkershoek Mountain Challenge until
a sprained ankle cut his speed down and forced
him to settle for second place, then claimed his
fifth consecutive series win in the Spur Cape
Winter Trail Series, followed by another win
alongside
AJ in the three-day Southern Cross Trail Run.
And these accolades were just the latest in a
long line of wins and podium finishes he has
wracked up since turning to trail running.