JOHANNESBURG The winner of the just-ended Comrades Marathon plans to buy a house with his winnings. (Pictured: Stephen Muzhingi after his post-race interviews.)
Zimbabwean long distance runner, Stephen Muzhingi, did it again; he won the Comrades Marathon for the second year running.
The Comrades Marathon is the world’s oldest and largest Ultra-marathon run over a distance of approximately 90 km between the capital of the Kwazulu-Natal Province, Pietermaritzburg, and the coastal city of Durban.
The direction of the race alternates each year between the up run starting from Durban and the down run starting from Pitermaritzburg. The 33-year-old’s win last Sunday also served as notice of just how Zimbabwean athletes are dominating races in South Africa.
Muzhingi, who grew up in Gutu, Chitsa where he learnt his long distance running skills as he went to school, was first to cross the line at Durban’s Kingsmead Sahara Stadium where his wife and child awaited him.
Muzhingi told the media in his in post-race interview that he would have loved to beat the time that he clocked last year but failed by about nine minutes.
“I fell nine minutes short, but I ran better in the first lap than I did in the second. I could have broke the record,” said a smiling Muzhingi, who recently started begging in a few sponsorships deals with South African companies such as Nike and Mr Price on the back of his impressive performances.
For four years he wore the same pair of running shoes, before Nike spotted his talent. The La Lucia-based Muzhingi says he plans to invest the R 250 000 pay check that he got in a house back home in Zimbabwe.
He expressed disappointment last year of having no one to cheer him up after winning the race for the first time. And as a result a Zimbabwe Prison Service (ZPS) official travelled to the coastal to offer his support.
Senior Assistant Commissioner Agrey Huggins Machingauta the Director of Sports and Training in ZPS was there at the end of the race.
“I am here to support our nationals who are raising our flag high in South Africa. My visit is to confirm the support these athletes have from our government,” he said in an interview with a Durban-based newspaper.
Post published in: Athletics