The thirty nine year old athlete from Tzaneen completed his fifth Comrades marathon in a time of 6 hours and 41 minutes, finishing in 109th position and improving 58 positions from his 2016 effort.

What makes Stephan’s achievement more remarkable is the fact that he does not have a trainer.

At school, Stephan was already taking part in athletics, the 1 500m metre being his favourite.

For 2019, Stephan has set his sights on a top 10 finish which will earn him a gold medal.

Another personal goal of Stephan is to compete in a total of forty Comrades marathons, which means he will be 74 by then.