Nine-time Comrades Marathon winner Bruce Fordyce is helping to create the next generation of South African athletes.

Through his Fordyce Fusion programme, co-founded with former endurance athlete Iain Morshead, the legendary runner hopes to introduce proper training techniques to schools countrywide.

Pupils from Shakaskraal SA Primary were able to be part of the programme thanks to sponsorship from Sun International Sibaya.

The 21-day programme has seen 100 kids from the school learn functional training tips, while also taking on board how a training programme can be used elsewhere in their lives.

The Shakaskraal SA Primary programme started on July 19 and will finish this Friday, with Fordyce visiting in person last week.

“I played lots of sports when I was young. I was striker in a football team, I was useless. I was a scrumhalf in the rugby team, useless. I was a batsman in the cricket team, useless! But I could always run,” said Fordyce.

“I first saw the Comrades on TV in 1976 and immediately started training – I ran the next year.”

Fordyce shared how he kept meticulous training notes, recording every single run between June 1976 and today.

Through the collection of that data, he was able to keep getting better and better until he eventually won his first Comrades (and next seven consecutively) in 1981.

“Once I got too old and slow to compete, I started to coach others, but didn’t do a very good job of it,” he said to the children.

“That is until Iain took all of my notes and made the training suitable for everyone, and that is the training you have had.”

If you want to find out more, go to fordycefusion.com

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