Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 64, November 2014 | Page 14

Ma feature

Comrades
to

rom Car Guard
F

me in the
Abre coming ho

al Two Oceans

2014 Old Mutu

Marathon.

With a can-do attitude and some help from clubmates and
friends, car guard Abre Jordaan has managed to earn
12 Two Oceans and 11 Comrades medals, despite not
being able to afford to pursue his running passion.

F

On his way to an 11th
Comrades medal in 2013.

– BY SEAN FALCONER
or the past 18 years, 46-year-old Abre Jordaan has spent nearly every
single day in the Somerset Mall parking lot in Somerset West, come
rain or sun, keeping guard over the parked cars. Spending up to seven
hours straight on his feet, hoping that the car owners will give him a
few Rand to say thanks, he then still finds the energy and motivation to

go running. But what most people don’t know is that these car guards are not paid
by the mall – they actually pay a daily fee of R28 to ‘hire’ a section of the parking
lot, and then rely on tips to make a living. “Many people think we get paid, which
means they don’t need to give us anything, so if I can make R150 a day in tips I
am happy, I can survive,” says Abre, “but we get no days off, no benefits, and if
you’re sick and can’t work, you not only have no income, you lose your spot to
somebody else. It’s a hard life.”

Sad Story

Abre’s story began with his mother being hurt in a car accident while pregnant,
resulting in him taking a hard knock to the head. “I am normal, but I feel I am a
bit slower with some things – but then the difference comes in when I run. That’s
the only place I am fast,” he jokes. His father abandoned the family when he was
still little, and his mother subsequently remarried and moved to Touwsrivier, while
Abre stayed in the Cape to attend Trade School up to standard eight. Having done
his military service, Abre worked as a petrol attendant, then did loading work
on trucks, and next found himself in Greyton, working in a hotel, where he met
a woman, got engaged and had two kids, but the relationship didn’t last, and
eventually neither did the job. That saw him end up at Somerset Mall in 1996,
living in a nearby caravan park.
He started running in 1997 when he saw a newspaper advert for the Safari Half
Marathon. “I entered and did no training, but I finished, got a medal, and was sore
for a week!” He went on to run a number of marathons around the three-hour
mark, including a PB 2:55 at the Cango Marathon, and then moved up to the ultras
in 2002. His best Oceans time is 4:07:38, and his Comrades PB is 7:22:03, wi