He won in a time of 33.06 seconds, which is also his personal best.

Rikhotso told Letaba Herald that he went to the Eastern Cape with nothing on his mind, but a gold medal.

“I was expecting a win, because I had trained very hard for the championships through the help of my coach, Gladstone Shabangu.”Shabangu is the founder of Ritavi Cross Warriors Athletics Club and he is also the Southern African Regional Police Chiefs Co-operation Organisation’s long jumper champion.

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Rikhotso (67) before retiring was a Xitsonga news reader at Munghana Lonene FM and has written a number of award winning books.

In 2015 he was given an honorary doctorate of philosophy in Literature for his contribution to the development of the Xitsonga language.

After retiring his love for fitness took him back to running which used to be his hobby growing up.

“I used to be part of champion athletes representing my former school, Mafarana Primary School in Tzaneen and at the time we were champs within the Letaba area,” he said.

Rikhotso has already started preparing for next year’s Gauteng Masters Athletics Championships and says he is also going for a kill.

“Next year I will defend my title at the Golden Games Championships,” he concluded.