Musina Marathon (Borderline crazy)

[MARATHON #272 / UNIQUE MARATHON #165 / 7 September 2024]

The inaugural Musina Marathon held in the northern extremities of Limpopo was the only marathon in the whole of South Africa over the entire weekend of 7-8 September. Musina is a stone’s throw from the Zimbabwean border and the last town on the N1 before hitting the Beit Bridge border post and crossing the Limpopo River.

Musina is where the devil spends his winters when he wants to warm up. It’s a place where your entry level sunblock is Factor 50. Legend has it that a Scotsman visiting Musina made the fatal mistake of sitting down on the pavement and ended up with hard boiled eggs in under three minutes. In other words, this is a fantastic place for a connoisseur to run a marathon.

I had been on the lookout for a marathon in Musina since chatting to Lufuno Musenwa at the start of the Shikhumba Marathon in October last year. At the time I wrote, “He’s trying to get a marathon going in Musina which is even further north so I will be keeping an eye out for that.” Musenwa kept his word and I kept mine – and naturally my friend Julian Karp was eager to accompany me (actually he had already entered when I suggested the trip).

It’s a long drive north along the N1 which was made longer with some road works, accidents and queues at the five toll booths along the way. We eventually pulled into the Musina rugby club just over 6 hours after departing Johannesburg. It’s always sweltering north of the Tropic of Capricorn but thankfully the heat of the day had cooled off as we collected our race numbers and shirts. The most notable feature on the local landscape are the baobab trees and these featured prominently on both the race number and shirt.

The race was due to start at 6:00am but we eventually set off at 6:20am as the drivers of the lead vehicles decided to have a bit of a lie in. Every minute counts in Musina – it might not sound like much but an extra 20 minutes on the Musina tarmac in full sunshine can break a man.

In the end we were lucky to get a relatively cool day with the high not quite breaching 30 degrees. I normally expect a few organisational issues with an inaugural marathon and was hoping that all the water tables would have sufficient liquid refreshment. I’m pleased to report that the race organisation was spot on with plenty to eat and drink at all the tables.

The route is mainly out-and-back with a couple of small loops thrown in. Musenwa told me, “We tried to keep the course as flat and interesting as possible” – and with just 209m of climbing over the marathon he definitely achieved the former. After you’ve finished reading this report I’ll expect you’ll concur with my assessment that he achieved the latter as well.

The first 6km is a loop through the Musina suburbs which is pretty (if a little dusty) whilst the sun quickly rises. At the end of the loop, you find yourself back at the rugby club before running another 6km segment skirting the outside of Musina town and the airport.

Before heading out into the open countryside, there is a loop of just over 4km through the local township. Although small in distance, this was an important segment in the route design, “We wanted to take the race to the people, just like the Soweto Marathon, which aligned with our goal of inspiring more people to take up road running.”

The township residents looked on curiously as the marathon runners plodded through their streets. Hopefully, this will result in more interest and support in future years and will inspire more of the locals to participate. From a runner’s perspective, the good news is that you get all the township vibe of Soweto but none of the raw sewage flowing through the streets.

During this section I was intrigued by buildings labelled, “Chicken Dust”. I figured that when life gives you lemons, make lemonade but when life gives you arid dirt in the sweltering heat you need to make some chicken dust. Any thoughts that these shops were selling chicken and dust were corrected by the clarification that ‘chicken dust’ is the local Musina speciality and is basically very well braaied, slow-cooked whole chicken*.

* Which also seems to be a culinary option in Pinetown and East Rand townships.

Another notable landmark over this section is the Lesley Manyathela Stadium which is named after the local football star Lesley “Slow Poison” Manyathela. The striker earned his nickname because he looked slow and lethargic on the field but would pounce on the ball and had an incredible goal scoring record. Sadly, Manyathela died in 2003 at age 21 in a car crash just outside of Musina just as he was starting to dominate the local soccer scene in Orlando Pirates colours. At the time he was the leading goal scorer in the Premier Soccer League (PSL) and the Golden Boot Award for the PSL’s top scorer has subsequently been renamed to honour Manyathela’s legacy.

The organising club is Musina Top Runners who were only founded in April 2021 “to promote fitness and mental wellness for our members and the community we live in.”  Musenwa explained, “At the beginning of 2023, as the executive committee, we decided to host a marathon to generate interest among community members and grow their love for running. Some of us had run the Soweto Marathon and never looked back. We wanted to create the same experience for our community and also increase our membership, which was at 28 at the time.”

I’ll also claim a partial assist for getting the marathon on the calendar. As several people have found out, you need to be careful about what you tell me during a marathon because it might make it into the race report. In this case it was the creation of expectations during our conversation at the start of the Shikhumba Marathon that ‘had to be lived up to’.

Here’s how Musenwa remembers it, “Being a big fan of your work, I was really happy we had that short conversation – I’ll definitely never forget it, and I really appreciated it. We had always talked about starting a marathon, but that moment was a significant turning point for what happened on the 7th. When you published that article, it was truly a point of no return because our commitment was now out there, an expectation was created, and we just had to deliver.” It’s a pleasure Lufuno!

After the township, you head out into the countryside in a westerly direction along the R572 towards the Mapungubwe National Park. The out section is a shade under 10km although there is no actual shade along this section. This is where one appreciates the loneliness and beauty of running in rural Limpopo. The baobabs trees are the most striking feature of the terrain and is perhaps the only tree that is more attractive and interesting when naked rather than fully leafed.

The last marathon held in Musina was the Two Countries Marathon in 2018 (which naturally both Julian and I ran). Here is what I wrote about baobabs at the time:

It is ironic that in a race with no shade, the highlight is the trees. I don’t normally get excited about foliage but the endemic Baobab trees are simply stunning. The big ones on the route are over 2,000 years old (the oldest one on record was over 6,000 years old before it collapsed – and the large hollow in the trunk was used as a bar). The hollows in other massive Baobab trunks, which can get to 50m in circumference, have been used as shops, prisons, houses, storage barns and bus shelters.

Baobab flowers bloom at night and are pollinated by bats – producing a fruit known as ‘monkey bread’. The leaves, fruit and seeds of the tree are very nutritious, have various medicinal applications and can also be used to make both coffee and beer. There are many myths about the Baobab which is also known as the ‘Upside Down’ tree. One legend has it that the arrogant Baobab was taught a lesson by the gods who plucked it out and shoved it back into the ground headfirst so now the roots are at the top!

Baobabs are virtually indestructible under normal conditions. They will recover from veld fires and are immune to ring barking since their smooth, shiny bark regenerates (unlike most other trees). When a Baobab dies it does so slowly, rotting from the inside. One day it will suddenly collapse in a pile of dust which adds to the mystique as it doesn’t ‘really die’ but simply disappears. Unfortunately these ancient icons cannot escape climate change and, after surviving several millennia,  nine of the oldest 13 Baobab trees in the world have died in the last few years.

One of the nice things about an out-and-back route is that you can see how much faster or slower you are than everyone else. I can tell you that Johan van der Merwe, a 5 x Washie 100 Mile winner and still current record holder (13:07:05 in 2012), was a lot faster than I was. Johan has an eye on a record attempt as the fastest ever 100 miler by a South African athlete over 50, which is currently held by Allan Ferguson (14:34:06 in 1971) and was set 54 years ago.

Whilst Baobab trees can live for well over 2000 years and are the oldest living things in South Africa, humans rarely live past 100 years. However, it is encouraging to know that some of us can still run marathons well into our 80s like Maros Mosehla who, at 82, still finished in the top half of the field with a 4h10 at the Musina Marathon.

As per the photo below, the baobab tree is between a rock and a hard place. The turnaround is at the 26km mark and there is still plenty to do before getting out of the ‘hard place’ that one finds oneself in during a marathon. Running marathons in Musina is hard work but a rather macabre local landmark puts things into perspective.

The turnaround point is just before the Big Bulai rocky outcrop on one side of the road and the Small Bulai rocky outcrop on the other. In days of old, if you fell afoul of the favour of the Musina tribal chief and were found guilty of a major offence you were taken to the Big Bulai rocks and executed. If you fell afoul of the favour of the Musina tribal chief and were found guilty of a minor offence you were taken to the other side of the road and executed on the Small Bulai rocks.

With sporadic greetings to runners still making their way to the turnaround point, I safely negotiated the lonely road back to Musina. On the way back you avoid the township loop and are directed right back onto the D2692 (yes here roads have no names, only numbers).

I have already given the organisers accolades for a faultless first marathon. However, I was particularly impressed that they had fired up the smoke machine for our return into Musina (truth be told, there was a support table close by and they managed to get the local authorities to extinguish the bin burn a short while after I passed).

The last 6-7km went by uneventfully and, although I was now running rather slowly, I did manage to pass one or two fellow runners before finally arriving back at the rugby fields.

Whilst I waited for Julian, I had a chat (and a beer) with co-organiser Rudzani Mandiwana. I ran Mandiwana’s first event (the Elias Resort Marathon on the 28^th of December last year) which was enjoyable but had a couple of issues. He has diligently taken on feedback from runners and keeps innovating and improving. Furthermore, he has added half a dozen new village running events to the Limpopo calendar (often dipping into his own pocket to do so).

Mandiwana also introduced me to local hero Rufus Photo who ran the 10km as the event’s special guest. This also gave me the opportunity to take a photo with Photo. With 4 Gold Medals from 8 finishes at Comrades, Photo is 1 Gold or two finishes away from earning his Green Number.

Perhaps the biggest highlight from the Musina Marathon is that you get a second shirt on finishing (a pleasant difference to some race organisers who employ a “NO SHIrTS” given attitude towards their runners).

I especially love the design of the shirt on the left and it is now in ‘heavy rotation’. I like to wear shirts from obscure marathons to the expos of big races to establish my marathon running connoisseur credentials. There were about 425 runners across all distances but just 50 finishers in the marathon. Therefore, if you see me wearing a marathon shirt there’s a good chance that it will be from Musina and if you see someone wearing a Musina Marathon 2024 shirt there’s a good chance it’s me! And, honest to God, to prove my point I can confirm that I am writing this race report sitting in a hotel room in Hyderabad, India wearing one of my Musina shirts and I flew here wearing the other.

I jokingly asked Musenwa why we weren’t served chicken dust at the end of the marathon and he answered in all earnestness, “Unfortunately, the chicken dust took too long to prepare, and we weren’t going to be able to serve it on time. We opted for braaied lamb chops, wors, and pap instead. Apologies that we still couldn’t serve you on time.”

Whilst Julian made his return and we started our journey back home before the braai meat was served, I do think there’s an opportunity to recognise the runner who takes the longest time to get home. I’d propose a special ‘Chicken Dust’ award for the last runner home in the marathon. After spending many hours getting grilled under the Musina sun, the winner will definitely be very well done. That would truly be a case of asphalt to ashes, charcoal to chicken dust.

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