Ma Feature
Gauteng at the SA
Cross Country Champs in George, and was selected to be part of Team Africa at the Asics Beat the Sun international relay event in the French Alps.
TUMI
Takes Them On
With her bubbly personality and a zest for life that rubs off on everyone around her, Tumi Matlou is making a name for herself as a runner while making friends all over the world. – BY RACHEL PIENAAR
It was probably always Tumi Matlou’ s destiny to become a competitive runner... After all, aged just 12, she actually felt perplexed when her mother beat her in morning runs in her home town of Lebowakgomo, in Limpopo.“ I grew up in a family of active sportsmen and sports lovers, and my mom influenced us from a young age to be fit. She would wake me in the morning and do little 4km runs with me, and she used to beat me. I used to look at her, like, how is this possible, you are 30-something and I’ m just twelve, how did you beat me?” Meanwhile, as the oldest child in her family, Tumi was having a very positive influence on her younger siblings, with her youngest sister and brother going on to excel in various sports at their schools.
Now 26, the Johannesburg-based Communication Team Assistant at Revlon says that her love for running didn’ t only come from her family, but also thanks to her teachers.“ During my primary school days the teachers would force everyone to do every single event at athletics, to try and figure out what they were good at, and I excelled at the time in sprints and long jump. It was only in grade five that I decided I wanted to try the long distance races, so I started with the 800m, then moved up to the 1200m, and I have not looked back. Then after I graduated from high school, I took a gap year before going to university, and during this year I ran a few trails around the Grootkloof area in the Magaliesberg, and I won a few of small trail events.”
SERIOUSLY NOW!
That prompted Tumi to get serious about her running, especially when she moved to the city three years ago for work, and since adopting a more professional approach, she can now look back on a most successful running career. Last year she finished on the podium at a number of trail and cross country events while also doing well on the road, represented Central
“ It’ s been quite the journey from 2014 when I started. I can honestly say that the journey so far has been tough, especially much of 2015 being a frustrating year, as I had to recover from injuries and was itching to get back on course, but it’ s also been absolutely amazing. I am quite competitive and I aim for a podium place in all my races – that’ s a goal I set for myself, but I also hold a lot of respect for the ladies that I run against, and it is always an experience to run against them.”
VIVE LE’ FRANCE
One of the highlights of 2016 for Tumi was the Asics Beat the Sun event in France, where she secured her selection for the team by getting friends and family to vote for her in a public voting system. Still, she had to meet stringent running requirements to be part of the African team, as she would be part of a continental team made up of three pro runners and three talented amateur runners set to do battle against various other mixed international continental teams in running around Mont Blanc, Europe’ s highest mountain – and trying to beat the sun by completing the 150km route as a relay team between sunrise and sunset. That meant not only highly competitive running at high altitude, but also bitterly cold conditions and running in snow on some of the legs.
“ Going to Beat the Sun was nerve-wracking!” says Tumi.“ The experience was completely different for us South Africans, despite the fact that it was June in SA and winter here. We still needed to adjust
Images: Sean Falconer & Courtesy Tumi Matlou
18 ISSUE 92 MARCH 2017 / www. modernathlete. co. za