This is clearly evident to all who had the fortune to witness the spectacular race in person, with the Comrades Marathon Race Director Rowyn James in awe of what Hein and his team have accomplished, “It’s unbelievable, the attention to detail that was on display was out of this world. I have never seen water points executed with as much consideration.”

Hein, however, is not in the business of seeking compliments, he told the Middelburg Observer, “I much rather prefer criticism to be honest, I already see ways in which we can improve for next year’s race.”

Although Hein is ever the stoic, even he would be the first to admit that the overwhelming praise given by participants and bystanders at this year’s event stirred a great deal of gratitude within him,

“So many athletes have personally reached out to tell me how much enjoyment they had participating; that they look forward to doing it again next year; that this is their favourite race on the calendar.

I am so filled with pride and thankful towards everyone involved when I received these comments, the athletes are the soul of the competition and the sole reason why I do this, the Loskop Marathon isn’t for or about me, it’s about all of you!”

The secret ingredient of the Loskop Marathon’s unique success is the vibrant familial atmosphere that the race confidently exudes. Every stranger becomes a sibling, every spectator becomes a supporter and every competitor becomes a companion.

This is personified by the following story that Hein shared with the Observer, “I was doing my routine evaluation during the race when a woman suddenly collapsed right before my eyes.

I franticly hurried towards her, where she assured me that she was alright and could continue the race, she attempted to stand up and promptly fell again. I lifted her into my vehicle as she was unable to even set a pinkie toe down, let alone stand.

“We rushed to the medical personnel, who proceeded to examine and diagnose her with a torn achilles tendon. She was informed that she would be unable to continue the race. I was to then drive her to the finish line, where her husband and daughter were waiting for her. She told me that she had been training for the Comrades Marathon and was devastated that she was going to miss it through injury. What only confounded matters was that she only took part in his year’s Loskop Marathon as it was her first ever race eight years ago.

“As we were talking we approached the water point my company, Mr Clean, had set up. I had spent months helping with the planning of the water point, but in terms of the final implementation, the team had simply blown me away and exceeded all expectations.

“I had then become rather emotional and began to cry, so there we were, me and this stranger crying together as if we were lifelong friends, after all of this and 43km later, we reached the finish line, where I then asked, ‘What is your name?’

I had only come to the realisation at that moment that we didn’t even know each other’s names! After a spell of laughing uncontrollably, I found out her name was Lientjie and that she was a Grade 2 teacher from Delmas, she then asked me what my name was, I told her, and after a brief pause, she asked, ‘Wait? Aren’t you the organiser of this race!’”