Meet the Lowveld’s fastest Comrades runner

Jairzinho Mokoena, who started running just over five years ago, finished the 2016 Comrades Marathon in the fastest time of all entrants from the Lowveld. What was more astonishing is that he ran his first Comrades in the year he started training and has run the race every year since.

Mokoena, who crossed the finish line in 6:36:46 placing him 90 of 16 808 finishers, ran 3 000 kilometres in training from January to mid-May. He believed that this made all the difference on May 29.

“I think the cornerstone to success at the Comrades Marathon is training for the long runs. That is what gives one confidence when the time comes,” he said.

Also read: Results: Comrades Marathon 2016

Mokoena, who is 38 years old and a member of LVCC Lowveld running club, said the toughest part of the race was near the very end when his body did not want to carry on.

“At three kilometres to go, I thought of just sitting down. My brain was no longer working. Something in me said to keep going. That third last kilometre was the longest of the whole race,” he said.
“When I reached the finish, there was no excitement at all. My mind was completely blank. I just sat down and took a little nap.”

Mokoena works as human resources practitioner for RCL Foods in Mbombela. When he joined the company in 2010, he entered a 10-kilometre race and ended up running the 21 kilometres. It was then that he realised that he may have some potential as a long-distance runner.

He does not regret taking up running so late in the day as he has enjoyed being involved in many other sports in the past.

“When I was younger and living in Burgersfort, I wanted to be a professional boxer. There was no boxing club, so I learned karate at school and did weightlifting in preparation. I hoped that an opportunity would one day come my way,” Mokoena said.
“I grew up liking to play hard. As children, we used to challenge each other with fists. I’d always win. I wanted to do something different to soccer. I never lost a karate fight, you know.”

Strangely, he ended playing soccer and coaching a provincial university soccer team while completing his studies at Tshwane University of Technology in Mbombela. Subsequently he is named after a famous Brazilian soccer player, Jairzinho.

Also read: Locals shine in a gruelling Comrades

Mokoena is more than happy with running as his current focus. He has no ambition to win the Comrades Marathon one day.

“I have a full-time job and a family. Running keeps me very busy and it makes me feel 18 years younger. But I am not young any longer. If I’d started much younger, maybe I’d have had a chance to win it,” he said.

He has high hopes, however, for his 10-year-old daughter, Mmakwena, who he says has the potential to be an incredible runner one day.
“She is amazingly fast and she has the endurance to go all the way. You never know what could happen,” Mokoena said.

Check the Comrades Marathon website for more information.