Welkom’s Nkhetheni Masupa will be running his seventh Comrades Marathon on 11 June, starting at the Pietermaritzburg City Hall at 05:30 and ending 12 hours later at the Hollywoodbets Kingsmead Cricket Stadium in Durban.
Masupa has completed six Comrades since 2015.
“That year I had a knee injury and my physiotherapist advised me not to go. I ran the whole 90 km, limping with a swollen knee. I received a bronze medal. Over the next four years (2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019) I received the Bill Rowan medal, and in 2022 I received a silver medal,” he says.
Masupa is an avid and accomplished athlete and has been running marathons since 2012.
For this year he has already completed six marathons, starting in January with the 42 km Mielie Marathon.
This was followed by the 42 km Joburg North City marathon in February, and in March he ran both the 73,3 km Kosmos marathon and the 50 km Om Die Dam Ultramarathon.
In April he tackled the 50 km and the 21 km Two Oceans races, and in May he ran the 50 km Loskop Ultramarathon.
Masupa received a silver medal after finishing the 14th Loskop Wild Challenge. He finished in 3:22, his personal best.
Long distance runners across the globe are busy finalising their preparations for the annual Comrades Marathon.
The 50 km Loskop Marathon was used by many as their last official race before the Comrades race.
Masupa has received silver medals in almost all of the marathons he has run this year, and he proudly runs in the colours of the Team Vitality Running Club.
“I always engage myself with an intense training programme in order for me to beat my previous completion time per specific race, and it is working for me. In other words, I continue competing with myself and it is helping me to see progress in my sport,” he says.
On 24 September, Masupa will be running the Berlin Marathon in Germany.
“I aim to give it my all out. I am also grateful for being a member of 057 Welkom Runners. This is a group of short and long distance runners from our region, coming from different running clubs. We share lots of running information amongst each other and do group runs from time to time,” he says.
As a build-up to this year’s Comrades, Welkom runners will enjoy a gala dinner on 3 June, and a special church service at the Roman Catholic church in Thabong on 4 June, starting at 07:30. At 12:00 there will be a 16 km group farewell-run from Virgin Active.
Masupa has been selected as one of this year’s Sanlam Cape Town marathon club captains.
The Cape Town Marathon takes place on 16 October.
Masupa has received silver medals in almost all of the marathons he has run this year.
