Team Vitality was my second family at Comrades

Published in 2016

Kgwathamane Andronicus Malatjie is 44 years old and this year he ran his fastest ever Comrades marathon, finishing in the extraordinary time of 7:30:27.

When Andronicus started running in 1988, he specialised in cross country and track and field. “I was also good at javelin,” he says. “My biggest achievement was to get Northern Transvaal colours representing my province in cross country.”

Andronicus ran his first half marathon in 1:16 but he was disqualified because he ran with his track and field license.

Then in 1993, Andronicus stopped running. “I wanted to focus on my job and it was difficult to keep up with training. Being in Emergency Services demands a lot from you physically and mentally.”

Then, on a family vacation in Cape Town in 2010, he was with his family when they came across a group of runners. His wife asked him why he hadn’t gone back to running. “At that time I weighed 98Kg. When I returned home I started by walking, then jogging, until I could run about 10km a week.”

Andronicus now weighs 67kg and he’s at his ideal weight.

Andronicus faces his first Comrades

Like many runners just starting out, Andronicus trained by himself for the first two years. “From 2013 I decided to join Discovery and the gym so I can train better.  The treadmill and other equipment at Virgin Active became my training partner,” says Andronicus, “but on race day I prefer to run alone.”

Andronicus’ first Comrades was the down run in 2014, and he didn’t have anyone to talk to about the race or to get advice from. “I felt very nervous and excited at the same time. What really got me going was that my family was at the finishing line,” he says.

He wished he had advice about how the heat affects your hydration needs. He says that if he had to give advice to a first time Comrades runner it would be mostly about nutrition – to train with the nutrition you’ll use on the day, not to change your diet on the day and to refuel properly. Since his first race, he has consulted with a registered dietitian who has given him detailed nutrition plans for before, during, and after the race.

Nevertheless, he finished with a time of 10:27 despite his nerves. After he finished though, he told himself, as many do, that he would never do it again. That didn’t last and he was back on the road in a month training for the up run the next year.

His 2016 Comrades experience

This was Andronicus’ third Comrades. “It was far better as I had more experience and I had planned better for the road including taking supplements,” he says. “I took the first 18km easy and accelerated through the next 21km. The last kilometres I moved between acceleration and easy running. It’s more mental than physical at the end.”

But despite running out of nutrition with 15km to go, he finished in an extremely good time. He had a plan for this one and he started implementing his plan in 2015, just after his second Comrades. He was aiming for a silver medal and his training plan was moulded for that goal – “operation silver medal”, he jokes. He was running more than 120km a week and following his detailed plan made all the difference on race day.

When, 7 hours and 30 minutes after he started, Andronicus crossed the finish line he says he wanted to cry: he was delighted at having achieved his personal best and improved his Comrades time from 2015.

Andronicus will be resting for only a week after Comrades, and then will start cross-training and running a few easy races, he says, including a marathon.

In 2017, Andronicus will run the Comrades with Team Vitality again and his goal is to earn a silver medal. After which he wants to earn his gold medal, and ultimately, he says, the green number.

Most importantly for success, says Andronicus, is the support of his family and club. “My family support me to such an extent that we turn Two Oceans into a family trip,” he says.

“The Team Vitality stations at the 44km and 72km mark made this year’s Comrades much more special for me. They must keep up the good work,” he says, “they were my second family supporting me, as were the other Team Vitality members on the road. I am a proud member of Team Vitality.”