The sporting world in lock down mode is a different world, and a diverse running community is facing the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in various ways.
This being the case, the Daily Dispatch will attempt to share with the public some of those circumstances.
I will start by sharing a few cases of who is where and just how some of our most senior citizens are coping, given that they are reportedly more vulnerable than the young.
Trevor Gee, a doyen of the athletics world, is 96, with another birthday due on 23 May. He and his long-supporting wife Nora are safe, sound and isolated in their comfortable abode.
Chatting to them yesterday on the phone, both are in great spirits and we shared many a laugh.
Trevor recalled how the last time he experienced anything similar to the current situation was the polio epidemic, probably in the early 1950s, when he worked at the health department and administered vaccines, including his wife.
If there was such a thing as “royalty” in local running circles, Gee would be joined by Sindile Tshaka and Edwin Lwana, the first two of three black men to represent their provinces in South Africa.
I spoke to them yesterday and both are in lockdown at their homes in King William's Town, where their running careers began. Tshaka will be 71 years old this year, and Lwana turns 70.
Tshaka ran his 22nd Comrades in 2018, having done his first one in 1977. He confirmed he was in good health and still running occasionally.
Lwana, on the other hand, has had heart issues, but his condition is being closely monitored. Being a particularly healthy man there is every hope that he will overcome the issue. He managed numerous Border road running teams to national championships once he retired from competition.
Nkosana Mpolweni is not of the same vintage, but has been a real character on the local running scene since doing his first Comrades in 1996. He has run it every year since.
This year will usher in his 57th birthday. For 32 years he has been working for the national health laboratory services at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital and is on the frontline each day.
In the year Mpolweni ran his first Comrades, Josia Thugwane won the marathon at the Atlanta Olympic Games.
It was a Sunday that had many thousands of South Africans glued to their television screens. I was fortunate to be there and on the team, so I gave Josia a call this week.
He assures me that while he does not run any longer, he is well and looking after himself and the family at this time.
His story is an epic one and needs to be accurately documented as there are varying versions which have been portrayed. My suggestion is that a round-table discussion among those who were there should be arranged and funded so that all memories are tested and the real-life drama shared for posterity.
In the days and weeks ahead we will catch up with others in the running fraternity.
GOING THE DISTANCE: Confronting the coronavirus
Image: SUPPLIED
The sporting world in lock down mode is a different world, and a diverse running community is facing the Covid-19 coronavirus pandemic in various ways.
This being the case, the Daily Dispatch will attempt to share with the public some of those circumstances.
I will start by sharing a few cases of who is where and just how some of our most senior citizens are coping, given that they are reportedly more vulnerable than the young.
Trevor Gee, a doyen of the athletics world, is 96, with another birthday due on 23 May. He and his long-supporting wife Nora are safe, sound and isolated in their comfortable abode.
Chatting to them yesterday on the phone, both are in great spirits and we shared many a laugh.
Trevor recalled how the last time he experienced anything similar to the current situation was the polio epidemic, probably in the early 1950s, when he worked at the health department and administered vaccines, including his wife.
If there was such a thing as “royalty” in local running circles, Gee would be joined by Sindile Tshaka and Edwin Lwana, the first two of three black men to represent their provinces in South Africa.
I spoke to them yesterday and both are in lockdown at their homes in King William's Town, where their running careers began. Tshaka will be 71 years old this year, and Lwana turns 70.
Tshaka ran his 22nd Comrades in 2018, having done his first one in 1977. He confirmed he was in good health and still running occasionally.
Lwana, on the other hand, has had heart issues, but his condition is being closely monitored. Being a particularly healthy man there is every hope that he will overcome the issue. He managed numerous Border road running teams to national championships once he retired from competition.
Nkosana Mpolweni is not of the same vintage, but has been a real character on the local running scene since doing his first Comrades in 1996. He has run it every year since.
This year will usher in his 57th birthday. For 32 years he has been working for the national health laboratory services at Cecilia Makiwane Hospital and is on the frontline each day.
In the year Mpolweni ran his first Comrades, Josia Thugwane won the marathon at the Atlanta Olympic Games.
It was a Sunday that had many thousands of South Africans glued to their television screens. I was fortunate to be there and on the team, so I gave Josia a call this week.
He assures me that while he does not run any longer, he is well and looking after himself and the family at this time.
His story is an epic one and needs to be accurately documented as there are varying versions which have been portrayed. My suggestion is that a round-table discussion among those who were there should be arranged and funded so that all memories are tested and the real-life drama shared for posterity.
In the days and weeks ahead we will catch up with others in the running fraternity.
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