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Sikhumbuzo Seme knows all about the pain of having the Comrades Marathon gold medal ‘door’ being slammed in your face. The Hollywood Running Club athlete finished in that least desirable of positions – 11th – last year to miss out on the prize money at the Ultimate Human Race.
While he made up for that by being the first KwaZulu/Natal athlete to complete the race, Seme was heartbroken at not making the top ten.
“We knocked last year but they did not open the door. This year the plan is to make them open the door so we can get inside. There is pressure of course, but we are going to keep that on the side.”
Added pressure for him is the fact that he is the son of the legendary running coach Michael ‘Sponge’ Seme.
“There is a lot of pressure being his son. Some people enjoy having a coach at their races, and they like it. But I find it hard when he is there (because of the high expectations people put on him). But lately, you don’t see him at a lot of our races because he does all the work at training and prepares us properly so that when we go to the races we go there knowing exactly what we need to do because everything we would have been fed to us.”
Skhumbuzo, having come close to Comrades gold last year, has every intention of breaking into the top 10 in this year’s edition on June 9 and has been hard at work preparing for an onslaught at the goal.
To that effect, he will be competing in the returning City2City ultra from Pretoria to Johannesburg at the end of the month.
Speaking on the periphery of the race launch in Johannesburg, he expressed delight at the return of the previously popular 50km race and revealed he is going for a podium finish.
“I am very happy that they brought this race back, it has a lot of history and for it to come back will help us a lot as athletes. As they (Gauteng Premier Panyaza Lesufi), said that they want this race to help us take care of our families and that’s what we want,” Seme said in an interview at the launch.
“From the first date that I heard the race was returning, I started training for it. In 2015 I ran the 21 (half marathon) but now I am going for the 50. The plan is to be in the top three. I want to be on the podium and preparations are going well because it is preparations that goes with (getting ready for) Comrades. I hope that I will run well, hope that my body peaks and it will be fine.”
Given that he will be making his Up-Run debut, Seme - who finished last year’s Down Run in a time of 5:30:05 – believes City2City is ideal preparations for his assault on a top-ten finish in KZN.
“Comrades is an Up-Run this year and running the hills here (Gauteng) at high altitude is going to help me a lot for Comrades which will be on the coast. I am not planning to run a particular time at City2City. It is a tough race, from Pretoria to Joburg there are a lot of hills and some downs. So, I will stick with the pack and not follow it like I usually do. The race will start at 42 km and I will see how things will go from there on. But my plan is to save energy until 42 kilometers and then take it from there.”
The plan is to see how ready will be for the Comrades and he is delighted that City2City comes a good time before the Ultimate Human Race so he will have enough time to recover after racing.
“This (March) is a good time because the time between the two is enough. Last year I went to Prince Mangosuthu (ultra) and I had just six weeks before Comrades, but this time around I have enough time after the race. It is full-time to allow me to train for Comrades after racing City2City.”
He would love to have a fantastic City2City race so Comrades could be a sweetener afterwards.
“We are going to eat the main dish here at City2City and then we go for deserts at Comrades,” he chuckled.
Such confidence can only come from a man who knows he has put in the work to realize his set goals.