​At first glance, Hlompho Mphanje appears to be a well-dressed, quiet, and glammed-up fashion icon of note. Which she is, but the true first impression of her is that of a bubbly, chatty ball of running energy who is contagious and welcoming. The Assistant Director for Policy and Planning in the office of the Executive Mayor, Cllr Mpho Phalatse, is an eight-time Comrades’ marathon runner who has defied all odds meant to detour her from participating in the annual running showpiece.

And because of her ability to overcome adversity, she has earned the nickname Titanium amongst her fellow runners.

Mphanje’s running career began in 2011 on campus, at the University of Johannesburg. She has always wanted to be active and fit, and running was the perfect way for her to do both.

“I am a liker of things. My running journey started when I was in university and saw a lady with a gorgeous body. I told myself, to get that body, I need to start running,” she says with a giggle and a broad smile on her face.

Back home in Roodepoort, she used to head out every morning, joining a group of people who were running in her street. She would follow them up the road, and when they’d turn around and run back, she’d do the same.

“I didn’t know these people I was running with, I just followed them from behind. Until one morning, when they approached me and told me to join their club, which is the Mercury Athletics Club in Roodepoort. Some of them are experienced runners and have completed 28 Comrades,” she explains.

The runners were training for the Comrades and other marathons, and they were impressed with her ability to keep up with them as well as her dedication as a runner, so they encouraged her to join them.

“At the time I had no proper running shoes or sportswear, and I honestly had no idea what the Comrades was. However, I was convinced and excited to go and give it a try,” she adds.

The club gladly took her under their wing, telling her what she needed to prepare for and how many kilometres she had to run before the Comrades’. Entries for the annual showpiece, dubbed the ultimate human race, had already closed that year, but the group that encouraged her to run told her about a substitution option, which they were able to secure for her.

Mphanje competed in her first Comrades in 2014, with only a few months to prepare. Because she was so excited about the event, she had her hair styled. She describes her hairstyle as “completely inappropriate for the run.” She’d gotten the longest braids she’d ever had.

“My head was pounding, that’s how tight the braids were. My journey down to Comrades’ was one for the books,” she notes as she reminisces.

Mphanje’s bags had gone missing prior to the run, and she hadn’t gotten much sleep or rest. She arrived in Pietermaritzburg and had an hour to get to the starting line.

“I participated in my first Comrades – a down run. The direction of the race alternates each year between the “up” run (87 km) starting from Durban and the “down” run (now 90 km) starting from Pietermaritzburg,” she explains. She couldn’t finish, completing the race in just over 12 hours, which is tantamount to not finishing (DNF).

“I remember it like it was yesterday. It was so heartbreaking, but I promise you that race made me the runner that I am today. I told myself, why is it that other people can finish but I can’t and that’s exactly what motivated me to go back. My family and friends thought I was crazy to want to have another go,” she says.

Mphanje has since completed seven Comrades between 2015 and 2019. She has also earned the title of Bill Rowen runner, which is (bronze-centred circled by a silver ring), given for finishing a race in 7hrs 30min to sub 9hrs 00min.

Mphanje’s life took a turn for the worse in 2020, not only because Covid-19 cancelled all mass participation events, but also because her health deteriorated.

“In September 2020, I broke my leg during training, sustaining a Jones fracture. This injury is recognised as the most serious of all the fractures that affect the fifth metatarsal. I was booked off running for six months to rehabilitate,” she says, with tears filling her eyes.

She had been training for the best race of her life, a 3-hour, 30 minutes marathon, but her dream had been dashed. Mphanje began easing back into running in April 2021, but she was hit with yet another health hurdle. In July she was diagnosed with Guillain-Barré syndrome, which affects the nerves and impairs the body’s senses.

“I was getting ready for a run and felt a tingly sensation in my body. Luckily, I was at my sister’s because I stay alone. I told them I couldn’t feel my legs and they thought I was being silly. I fainted, and then I couldn’t feel my arms. I was technically out again between July 2021 and October 2021,” she avers.

These tribulations did not deter Mphanje from running again, and she began telling herself that the Comrades was getting closer and closer. She awoke in November 2021 and began training again, this time gradually.

She thought 2022 would be a breeze until she was diagnosed with gastritis in March and her stomach could no longer manage long runs. She was eventually hospitalised in June, with doctors attempting to persuade her that it was time to put away her running shoes for good.

“There are no words to express the hurt and disappointment I felt when the doctors came to me with the news of having to stop running. I am nothing without running. It’s my time to destress, plan my life ahead and refresh,” she says.

She adds that running also helps her with her day-to-day work because it requires a lot of planning and commitment. “For every runner to run, they need to see themselves headed somewhere, and you need to take certain steps to get there. It’s the same with policy and planning, it’s about finding ways to do things better and the means to deliver what we have promised to the residents of the City,” she explains.

Mphanje asserts bravely that she is not a quitter and knew it couldn’t be the end. She underwent additional tests from head to toe, and by chance, this year’s Comrades marathon was for the first time moved to August.  “It was a sign. I told myself that muscle memory is important and I’m sure I could finish a 12-hour race,” she says.

And just like that, Mphanje got up and ran, finishing the 2022 edition of the Comrades’ marathon in an incredible time of 9 hours and 15 minutes, earning her the Robert Mtshali medal (titanium): 9hr 00min to sub 10hrs 00min.

“Although it has been a rough two years for me, I will never give up. I am titanium and I will not break even under immense pressure or heat. I have a clean bill of health and look forward to the next Comrades,” she says with great pride.

Apart from Mphanje’s disciplined lifestyle of eating a healthy diet daily and her determination to overcome any obstacles in her path, she prefers to relax as a pastime. Her favourite post-race meal is a ‘Ko Kasi Kota,’ which she devours with a heaping helping of chips, russians, and polony.

“With anything in life, there are difficulties. It’s what we do with the cards we are dealt that matters. On the bright side of it all, I have learned to fine tune my hearing to hear even the softest bark of a dog, and guess what, I can run faster than a dog chasing after me,” she giggles.

Written by Sascha-Lee Joseph

23/09/2022