Underberg local Nkosinathi Duma is dreaming big for this year's Comrades Marathon

Nkosinathi Duma is still a relative novice in the Comrades Marathon but that doesn’t stop him from dreaming big. Born and bred in Underberg in KwaZulu-Natal, Duma has experienced a mixed and emotional start to his Comrades career. He made his debut in the world’s biggest ultra-marathon back in 2013. The 31-year-old has competed in three Comrades but has only managed to finish two. After making his debut in the famous race, Duma opted for a two-year break and returned in 2016. Things didn’t go as planned. though, as he failed to finish. Last year he came back strong as he finished 16th overall. Now Duma is backing himself for a top 10 place and the gold medal that this brings. He has been training with last year’s champion Bongmusa Mthembu under coach Arthur Ford. “Nothing has disrupted my preparations. I have no injuries and I’m looking forward to the race,” Duma enthused. “I started my preparations in December. My training programme is different from the one I used in 2016 and 2017. For the past two years, we used to run 150km per week and this time around we are running more than 250km per week. “It hasn’t been easy but it is worth it. I want to emulate my performance of last year. My target this year is to be in the top 10,” he added with confidence.

posted Monday June 4th