A Confident Comrades Champ Makes It A Trifecta

His coach says hard work has paid off.

Zimbabwean road-racing ace Stephen Muzhingi, the recent winner of one of the prestigious Comrades Marathon in South Africa, never doubted his abilities. “I don’t doubt myself. I am going to win despite whatever people are saying. It’s not a matter of ‘if’,” he had predicted beforehand.

There’s some truth to Muzhingi’s bold statement: He’s won the race three times in a row, a first in the race’s long history.

At this year’s edition of the 89.96K race, he broke the tape in 5:32:47–the first of 19,000 runners who had come from all over the world.

Muzhingi’s coach, Cliff Chinasamy had this to say about his athlete: “This is an example that hard work pays off. Our secret to success was our training schedule, Stephen worked very hard and I am glad he came out tops.”

Fani Matshipa of South Africa was the only runner in the field who was able to stick with Muzhingi all the way to 71K mark. He ended up finishing second.

For More: Nehanda Radio