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The year in review for the Nedbank Running Club
January –
As is always the case, the year started off with the Dischem Half Marathon, which from 2025 will now be known as the Biogen Half Marathon! It was a Nedbank green dream team 1-2 in the men’s race as Onalenna Khonkhobe took the victory in 1:05:49, ahead of teammate Namakoe Nkhasi who was just over a minute behind in 2nd. Down in Durban, new Nedbank running club athlete Sithembiso Mqhele who is a double Two Oceans gold medallist, finished 2nd at the PDAC 25km to start off his year. Thabang Mosiako started off the 2024 season on a good note, as he was crowned Eastern Province champion over the 10km distance when he clocked a speedy 28:38.
February –
At the Peninsula Marathon in Cape Town, our Nedbank running club green dream team ladies recorded a 1-2-3 total podium domination. Adele Broodryk took victory ahead of Deanne Horn and Maretha Smit who finished 2nd and 3rd respectively. For the first time in 3 years, the NMB Runified Breaking Barriers 50km took place without Nedbank as the title sponsor and also opened up as a mass race for the first time which also incorporated the South African Championships for 50km. Nedbank running club athletes Silindile Chili and Galaletsang Mekgoe finished on the podium with 2nd and 3rd places on the day.
March –
At the Trojan Om Die Dam 50km, Nedbank running club’s Sylvester Mathidi took victory with teammate Eliud Biwott in 3rd. Renier Grobler took 4th place overall and first veteran. Nedbank running club Zimbabwe’s Isaac Mpofu
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earned a bronze medal over the half marathon distance at the African Games which was held in Ghana. The Spar Ladies Grand Prix Series kicked off in Cape Town. Youngsters Diniya Abaraya and Getenesh Agafaw finished 2nd and 3rd and were also the first two junior athletes across the line. One needs to look back a few years where an unknown Tadu Nare arrived in South Africa as a junior at the Spar Ladies Grand Prix series and started an international career in the sport which today sees her as one of the world’s best distance runners. “We look up to Tadu and we want to enjoy the same career she has so that is why we are following in her footsteps by running this series as it developed her into a superstar,” said Abaraya. At the City to City 50km, Shelmith Muriuki was a runaway victor with Deanne Horn finishing 3rd. The men just missed out on a victory in the closing stages with Jackson Koisenge finishing 2nd. In the 10km event, Regina Ndungu took victory.
April –
The month of April always signals one of the biggest events on the calendar in the form of the Two Oceans 56km and half marathon. The Nedbank running club had a brilliant showing. Onalenna Khonkhobe broke away at the 51km mark from teammate Lloyd Bosman to take victory in 03:09:30 with Bosman finishing 2nd. “Today I am introducing myself and tomorrow you will acknowledge me,” were the words spoken by Khonkhobe the day before the race at the press conference and he certainly delivered. Another 2 Nedbank running club men finished in the top 10 for coveted gold medals. In the ladies’ race, 3 athletes earned gold medals, finishing 6th, 7th and 8th. In the half marathon, Thabang Mosiako made it a double victory for the Nedbank running club with teammate George Kusche finishing 3rd. up and coming star Rueben Mosiane who is trained by Dave Adams and forms part of the training group led by Comrades winners Tete Dijana and Edward Mothibi, took victory at the Tshwane Ultra 50km. Comrades 2016 winner Charne Bosman made a welcome return to the podium with a victory at the Loskop 50km.
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May –
Fresh off his 2nd place finish at the Two Oceans 56km, Lloyd Bosman proved that the ultra-distances do not kill your speed when he ran a speedy 28:56 at the Run Your City 10km in Cape Town in very windy conditions. Ethiopian Getenesh Agafew finished 3rd in the women’s race and took the first junior title in a fast 32:48. The Nedbank running club Comrades Marathon training camps were now also in full swing. In Dullstroom the strong Dave Adams group were hard at work whilst all the way in Kenya, Piet Wiersma was training hard to try and turn his 2nd place finish last year into a win this year.
June –
June can mean only one thing, the Comrades Marathon! After a phenomenally successful 2023 Comrades Marathon, the Nedbank running once again hosted a Comrades training camp which moved between Rustenberg and Dullstroom as well as down in Underberg and in Kaptagat, Kenya. Come race day, the runners were ready, and they put up a courageous fight!
After coming an agonizingly close 2nd by 3 seconds to Nedbank running club teammate Tete Dijana in his debut Comrades last year, Piet Wiersma vowed to return in 2024 to win, and on a cool Sunday morning, the Dutchman did just that in a well-judged race to take victory, and agonizingly again, missing out on a new course record by a scant 11 seconds.
On a cool Durban morning, a field of 20 000 runners set off for Pietermaritzburg at 05:30 for which was the first running of the up run since 2019. Defending up run champion Edward Motihibi together with Nedbank running club teammate and 2022 and 2023 Comrades winner Tete Dijana chose to sit at the back of the huge pack that formed, with Wiersma always at the front of the pack, watching proceedings.
It was a slow first half as the main bunch went through the halfway mark in 2:49, but as soon as the climb started on Inchanga, Wiersma started to test the rest, surging ever so often up the tough climb which saw the pack slowly starting to whittle down. The first drama of the day was when Dijana suddenly stopped on the side of the road, clutching his legs but after a brief moment, accelerated back to join the lead pack. “I was not feeling good,” said Dijana. “It was a combination of feeling cramps in my legs and also feeling dizzy.”
As the pack made their way to Harrison flats, the pace of the group certainly shifted, as lone Russian athlete Aleksei Bersenev who finished in the golds on debut last year, was already 9 minutes ahead. “We started to feel that the guy was too far ahead and were worried because although we felt he started fast, the gap was very big and he was still moving well,” said Wiersma. Nedbank running club teammates Joseph Manyedi, Dan Moselakwe as well as Ethiopian Degefa Lafebo who was running his debut Comrades Marathon were looking comfortable in the pack, with Mothibi the first to fall off the bunch as they made their way through Cato Ridge.
It was just before Umlaas road, the highest point in the course where the group of now 5 Nedbank running club athletes moved into the lead, passing a tired Bersenev who could not stay with them. A ding dong battle ensued as Manyedi who was dropped briefly, surged into the lead and only Wiersma, Moselakwe and Lafebo could respond. Dijana came to a halt on little Polly’s again clutching his legs. It was on this first climb where Wiersma made the race break and although Lafebo and Moselakwe closed a little on the downhill that followed, Wiersma surged again on the tough Polly Shorts.
It was a race move that took him to victory as he entered the Scottsville racecourse to cross the line victorious in 5:25:00, missing the course record by just 11 seconds. Moselakwe finished in 2nd, only 45 seconds behind whilst Lafebo hung on for 3rd and Manyedi 4th, giving the Nedbank running club a 1-2-3-4 across the line.
“I knew I was in the shape of my life after going to Kenya and really focussing there for 6 weeks in preparation for this race so the victory means a lot to me,” said Wiersma after crossing the line. “It does hurt a little to just miss out on the course record, but in those last 7kms I was really cramping, and it concerned me that if I pushed a little harder, the cramps could totally end my race and the victory for me was more important than the course record.”
Nedbank running club’s Alex Milne came from far behind with a late surge to pick up a coveted gold medal finish with his 9th place finish. Dijana battled over the last 7km with cramps and hung on for 14th. “It was an unbelievable showing once again today by the Nedbank green dream team at Comrades and we could not be prouder of the athletes results today,” said Nick Bester, National team manager of the Nedbank running club. “I won’t lie and say at one stage I was very nervous when the Russian guy Bersenev led by 9 minutes far into the 2nd half of the race, but the guys ran a smart race and did not let others dictate how they run it and the first 4 men across the line in our team showed that.”
The Nedbank men also won the coveted elite men’s team prize courtesy of Moselakwe, Manyedi, Dijana and Motihibi. The club also saw first South African over the line Moselakwe, first novice in the form of Lafebo, 1st male 40+ with Manyedi as well as Wayne Spies dominating the 50+ category.
In the ladies’ race, Nedbank running club’s Catriona Jennings and Dominika Stelmach ran brave races in what was an amazingly fast women’s race to finish 7th and 9th, both running times that before the 2019 up run would have won many Comrades Marathon’s. The ladies team consisting of Deanne Laubscher, Slindile Chili, Michelle Dykman and Taryn Snyman also won the elite team prize and whilst the 40+ team prize went to the Nedbank running club Central Gauteng combination of Jeannie Henderson, Ilse Marias, Boipelo Orekeng and Christelle Pretorious.
The 40+ podium was a clean sweep by the Nedbank running club with Jennings, Stelmach and Czech athlete Petra Pastorova rounding off the podium in an incredible 6:29:28. One stand out performance of the day must surely go to visually impaired runner Michelle Spies who ran an amazing 7:34, without being assisted along the way.
“We said it before that the Nedbank running club was coming to Durban to paint the streets green again like we have done in the past 3 Comrades and we did that yet again,” said Bester. “It would not be possible at all without the athletes, our amazing sponsors and all of the helpers in the team that make this team more than a club.”
At the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon, Tadu Nare was a runaway victor in terrible conditions which saw ice freezing rain and winds more than 50km/h. Teammate Diniya Abaraya finished 2nd and in the men’s race former race winner Namakhoe Nkhasi finished a very credible 2nd.
At the Spar Ladies Grand Prix series 10km down in Durban, Tadu Nare was a runaway victor in an extremely fast 31:13.
July –
Thabang Mosiako clocked his 4th sub 28:00 10km clocking with his 27:54 clocking for 3rd place at the Durban leg of the Run Your City 10km. At the immensely popular Foskor Half Marathon run in sweltering hot conditions given its afternoon start, Nedbank running club’s Lucky Mohale was in a class of his own as he took the R21 100 winners cheque with a dominating victory. “I am so happy to win because to be honest I was just hoping to try for the podium so for me to leave as the winner means a lot to me and the money will also assit me as I am building a home,” said Mohale.
August –
Tadu Nare suffered her first defeat in a number of years at the Spar Grand Prix 10km as the series found itself in Tshwane for the 3rd leg. Nare had picked up a bug and was not feeling well but nevertheless finished a credible 2nd. “I really did not feel good and had no power and if I was at home I would have not started but because I came all the way here and the series means a lot to me, I had to run,” a tired Nare said afterwards. Down in Durban the following day, Diniya Abaraya finished 4th and 1st junior in a very highly competitive Totalsports Ladies 10km in a fast 32:46. Nedbank running club Zimbabwe’s Isaac Mpofu ran a very impressive 02:10:09 on the tough Paris Olympic Marathon. Whilst he only finished 19th, his time would have bene good enough for a medal in the last 5 Olympic Games.
September –
For the first time in history, a marathon on South African soil paid R1 million rand as a first prize with the first edition of the Mpumalanga Marathon. Tadu Nare took full advantage of the prize money on offer and was unchallenged throughout as she took a dominant victory. In the men’s race, Lucky Mohale continued his great form with a 2nd place finish. In Cape Town, Lloyd Bosman was unchallenged at the very popular Gun Run Half Marathon, cruising to victory in 01:02:55. Junior athlete Diniya Abaraya continued building an impressive career finishing 2nd at the Spar Grand Prix 10km in Gqeberha with a new PB of 31:33. With the marathon still in her legs from only a week before, Tadu Nare still ran a very impressive race to finish 3rd in a fast 31:48.
October –
At the Spar Grand Prix series 10km in Johannesburg, Tadu Nare finished 2nd with teammate Diniya Abaraya continuing to impress in 3rd. Lloyd Bosman continued an impressive 2024, clocking a very fast downhill half marathon of 01:00:46 to take victory ahead of teammates Selwyn Mathews (01:05:39) and Francois Maquassa (01:06:57) at the Cango Half for a Nedbank running club 1-2-3. Thabang Mosiako finished 2nd at the extremely popular Thembisa 10km.
November –
If there ever was a year to remember in the 28 years that Onalenna Khonkhobe has graced earth, 2024 will go down as one! The Nedbank running club green dream team athlete raced to victory at the Soweto Marathon in the Super NIKE SHOES over the weekend to follow up on his massive Two Oceans Marathon victory in April.
Run in warm conditions and back to its old course starting and finishing at NASREC, the Soweto Marathon assembled one of its most competitive elite fields in history which included the likes of Khonkhobe’ s teammates Isaac Mpofu, a world class marathoner from Zimbabwe and Ethiopian Daba Debele who had finished 1st and 2nd at
the last two editions of the Soweto Marathon.
Up front, a huge lead bunch formed with Nedbank running clubs Sinethemba Tshangase and Lucky Mohale setting the pace which saw the leaders hit halfway in 1:08:56. It was shortly after this that double Comrades Marathon winner Tete Dijana hit the front with a powerful surge that broke up the bunch.
At this stage, Khonkhobe was biding his time and running at the back of the pack. At 36km an immensely powerful surge by Lesotho’s Joseph Seutloali broke up the bunch and Khonkhobe moved into 2nd place together with teammate Gadisa Bekele Gutama as the two began to hunt the leader down.
It was at exactly the 41km that Khonkhobe caught Seutloali, and one last surge saw the youngster move ahead to seal a victory in 2:18:36 in what was his first attempt at the Soweto Marathon.
“I am so happy with winning today because although it was my plan, I didn’t expect it that much because it’s my first time in Soweto,” said an elated Khonkhobe. “My biggest stress was Vilikazi street because I was told that it is the tough part of the route, and I thought to myself I will use that section to break away. But then when we were running, I asked the other top guys where this Vilakazi street is and then they told me that we had already passed it, so my plans had to change.”
Behind him, teammate Gutama held on for 5th after struggling over the final 2km. After dropping off the leaders at 34km, Dijana managed to claw his way back and finish 9th.
In the women’s race there were two podium spots for the Nedbank running club with Margaret Jepchumba and Worke Degu Amena finishing 2nd and 3rd. Gladys Jepchirchir, Galaletsang Mekgoe and Msawenkosi Sibande finished 6th, 8th, and 10th respectively to give the Nedbank girls 5 out of the top 10.
Nedbank running club National team manager Nick Bester was delighted with the green dream team. “This year’s Soweto Marathon was an important one for our team and we planned, prepared, and executed our plans in style with Onalenna taking the victory, said Bester.
“We really want to thank everyone who plays a part in these victories from our sponsors to the managers, coaches, committee members, support teams and all the families that contribute. This victory was a victory for all of us!”
We put the Cherry on the top today ending a brilliant running year by winning the 3 major road running events in South Africa in one year and just once again proof we are the strongest and most professional Running Club in South Africa.
Our hospitality was also an enormous success with the hospitality and catering for the bulk of the tired social runners who completed this murderous challenging and hilly marathon in the extreme hot conditions on the day. Here they could enjoy the products of our loyal sponsors-Biogen to drink the recovery drinks, Future Life to fill the empty stomachs, THIRSTI WATER to replenish the THIRST and Bavaria to have a refreshing drink after all.
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