Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 67, February 2015 | Page 14

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Feature

Happiness is...
He comes bounding down the road in his Carbineers
club colours and red socks, a huge smile on his face as
he hugs friends and exudes a lust for life. He’s
AJ Spieringshoek, high school teacher and hockey
coach, runner, Red Socker and Unogwaja, and everyone
he comes into contact with can’t help but catch his good
mood and enjoyment of running. – BY SEAN FALCONER

S

hocked... that’s the only way to describe the reaction of the Spieringshoek
family in November 2012 when AJ told them he had entered the 2013 Comrades,
and what’s more, that he wanted to ride a bicycle for 10 days from Cape Town to
Pietermaritzburg as part of the Unogwaja Challenge before running the 90km ultra.
After all, he had been a good 400m hurdler at school, as well as playing first team
cricket and hockey, and had carried on playing club hockey after school, but he had
never done any road running, nor had he done any cycling!
It all started when AJ heard Red Sock and Unogwaja founder John McInroy speak at
the school where he was teaching in Cape Town. He was so inspired that he decided
to enter the Comrades that same day and apply to become an Unogwaja. “I started
training and did the Sundowner 10km in December, finishing in 52 minutes. There were
a lot of people running and the race had a festive feeling, and that really gets you in the
mood to run more, so it was a very positive start to my running career,” says AJ.

Familiar face

Nearly two years after Unogwaja, AJ says he still gets people walking up to him to
say they followed him in that 2013 journey, or saw him in the videos online, and
how much he has inspired them. Typically humble at all times, he says that kind of
feedback still blows him away. “We really were not aware of what we were getting
into in terms of hype with Unogwaja. For example, at Comrades I met Greg Dove of
the Royal Marines, who was stationed in Afghanistan. He walked up to me and said
he recognised me from the videos on YouTube, and that our message was spreading
all over the world. That’s just incredible!”
Taking a turn up front during
the 2013 Unogwaja ride

Pure joy at finishing
his second Comrades
in 2014
AJ (28) studied B.Ed at CPUT, taught at Fairmont and is now at Bishops, intern-teaching
Maths and Information Technology, while also coaching the under-16 hockey team and
third cricket side. He also coaches the under-18 Boland indoor hockey girls, the Foxes,
who recently finished second in the National Pro Series. While teaching and coaching give
him great satisfaction and joy, it is running where AJ now looks for his own sporting highs,
and since his remarkable entry into running, he has improved his running times markedly.
“I’ve learnt a lot in two years of running, and this year I will be looking to go sub-3:30 for
the marathon, run 1:33 for the half and sub-40 for 10km. I would also love to run a Bill
Rowan at Comrades, but for now a sub-10:00 will make me very happy. With Comrades, it
is such a long way – you can set goals, but then the race will decide for you.”
“I just love being alive, and want to live my life as best I can. That’s the type of person I
am – I go in wholeheartedly,” says AJ. “Every time I run, I want to smile, because I am
using my god-given ability. I’m not going to win races or go to the Olympics, but I think I
can inspire the average runner by being out there, sharing the same pain and joy on the
road, and that makes me happy.”

Always with a smile on his face

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ISSUE 67 FEBRUARY 2015 / www.modernathlete.co.za

Images: Courtesy AJ Spieringsoek

“I ran 2:07 in my first 21km at the Kloofnek Half in January, and then in February I
did my first marathon at the Peninsula, clocking 4:26. Then came Two Oceans in 6:27.
I only started cycling after Two Oceans, and most of my training was on a bike that
was too big for me, until I got my KTM two weeks before Unogwaja, and it carried me
through the ride. Then I ran the Comrades and finished in 11:46, the last Unogwaja
home. The others finished in 11:42 and they were a bit concerned, as they hadn’t
seen me for a while. Thinking about it all now still gives me goosebumps!”