Vryheid gardener is NKZN’s #1 Comrades runner
Bongani's training regimen involves running 30km every day from his home, in Hlobane, to work in Vryheid’s central residential area, where he is known to be, “an excellent gardener.”
VRYHEID’S Bongani Msimango was the first of Northern KwaZulu-Natal’s athletes to cross the finish line at the 2017 Comrades Marathon.
He finished in 49th position overall, in a time in 6:21:37, bringing home a silver medal. Having completed his tenth Comrades this year, he also earned his green number.
Unlike other competitors, the 33-year-old gardener has had absolutely no professional coaching at all. His training regimen involves running 30km every day from his home, in Hlobane, to work in Vryheid’s central residential area, where he is known to be, “an excellent gardener.”
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Bongani joined the Vryheid Athletics Club when he was 17-years-old. Since then, his stamina and natural talent for distance running has seen him represent KwaZulu-Natal in the SA Marathon Championships, and he was also selected to be part of the South African team that competed in the Commonwealth Trail championships hosted in the United Kingdom.
He has brought home silver medals for nine of the Comrades Marathons he has run. In 2012, however, he won the Wally Hayward medal for having completed the Comrades in less than six hours.
Everything that Bongani has learned about competing as an athlete, he learned from reading a book written by former Vryheid High pupil, Gert Potgieter, a retired South African track and field athletics competitor, primarily known for breaking the world record in the 440 yard hurdles.
Bongani would like to thank all the people who made it possible for him to compete.
Thirteen of the 18 athletes from Vryheid who competed in the Comrades Marathon finished the race on Sunday.
Their times were as follows:
Bongani Msimango – 6:21:37
Sipho Mncwango – 8:43:57
Simphiwe Buthelezi – 9:36:52
Pieter Aucamp – 10:38:56
Ntokozo Mbatha – 10:49:57
Jabulani Ndwandwe – 10:51:25
Paula Small – 10:54:49
Ramon Purchase – 11:17:34
Roshen Anandlal – 11:20:09
Amanda Bothma – 11:31:33
Barbara Dicks – 11:37:59
Thalent Buthelezi – 11:50:39
Hein Potgieter – 11:50:45
Sadly, Prishantha Anandlal, Christiaan Bezuidenhout, Rozanne Vosloo, Cathy de Beer and Alfred Mpanza did not manage to finish the race, but will, hopefully, attempt it again next year.
