Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 98, September 2017 | Page 26

Ma Feature
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Of P ics and
Running has many characters and personalities who bring flavour to the sport,
and in the Cape Town running scene, one who stands out from the crowd is
Moegsien Ebrahim. He isn’t known for being the fastest runner, but rather for
taking amazing pics of his fellow runners, and for not being shy about sharing his
opinion about running issues on social media. – BY PJ MOSES
B
esides running, and talking about running,
another of Moegsien Ebrahim’s passions is
taking photos, and it has become the norm to
see him at all the races with camera in hand, taking
hundreds of photos. His pics featuring runners doing
what runners do are found all over social media these
days, and he’s become a mini celeb in his own right
by being the man behind the lens. “It has become an
expectation from people to have their picture taken
during races, and everyone is always asking me,
where is the camera, when I don’t have it,” says the
enigmatic running photographer.
Nowadays hundreds of runners look forward to
featuring in a Moegsien Ebrahim pic, and before,
during or after a race, they line up smiling and always
have a pose ready when they see him. On average, he
takes about 400 to 500 pics per race, and it doesn’t
matter if it is road, trail or even the cross country
events, Moegsien’s camera has become well known at
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all of them. Thousands of pictures later, he says he still
keeps all of the photos he has taken over the years.
ADVENTUROUS SPIRIT
By his own admission, Moegsien is not a natural
runner, and he says the running bug bit him fairly late
in life, but he adds that it opened up a whole new
world to his adventurous spirit. As a nine-year-old,
he would disappear from home every chance he got
to go play hockey or cricket with his friends, without
his parent’s consent. By the time they found out what
the young Moegsien was up to, it was too late to
stop him, so they just let him be. In the years that
followed, it was cricket in the summer and hockey in
winter, but when injuries and a declining love of these
team sports led him to look for alternative sporting
activities, he turned to first walking, then running.
“I just found that stayi