The Tuks long-distance runner, Collins Kgadmima, will undoubtedly agree that behind every successful man, there stands a woman. But in his case, there are two women.
The past weekend, during the South African University Cross Country Championships in Bloemfontein, he won the men’s 10km race and placed second in the team category. He also anchored the Tuks team to win the mixed medley relay.
The Tuks BAEd student actually had a fantastic season. Running personal best times in three events – 5000 metres, 10000 metres, and 21km- took some doing. Another highlight was competing at the World Student Games in Chengdu, China. Kgadima believes in giving credit where credit is due.
“I would not have achieved what I did without my coaches, Caster and Violet Semenya. ‘Coach Violet’ is the one who ensures I do the long, hard kilometres.
“‘Coach Caster’ is the motivator. What I love most about her is how she can make you believe that you are good enough to race the best. According to her, success is about trusting the process and being disciplined.
“Coach Caster also emphasizes not focusing on what other athletes are doing. She said she achieved what she did as an athlete because only one thing mattered: to be better tomorrow than you are today.”
To say Kgadima is passionate about running would be an understatement; he absolutely loves running. Through running, he has learned not to curb his dreams. He is on a continuous quest to be faster and has goals to win more gold. He has already set his sights on what he wants to achieve in 2024.
“I aim to run times faster than 29 minutes over 10 kilometres and in the 10,000 metres on the track. I also want to get as close to running as possible, 62 minutes over 21 kilometres. Then, I would also like to defend the 10000-metre title I won during the Gauteng North Championships. The ultimate goal would be to medal at a national championship. But in the end, it is all about ‘baby steps’. ‘Coach Caster keeps reminding me that to be the best is a four-year project.”
Running was not always Kgadima’s sport of choice. Growing up in Ga-Seema Semorishi, a small town in Limpopo, he was an avid soccer player.
“I competed as an athlete at school, but the dream was to play professional soccer. I did get signed up to play for AmaTuks. But then came the day that everything changed for me as I went for a run. I got stopped by a friend who complimented me on my running pace. He was surprised when I told him I was not an athlete.
“He convinced me to run, enticingly telling me he could put me in contact with ‘Coach Caster’. He offered to pick up every afternoon at Tuks’s hpc to go training. It did not take me long to get hooked on running. What helped was that ‘Coach Caster’ encouraged me, saying she believed I had the talent to be a good athlete.”
Caster and Violet Semenya also guided Tuks’s Karabo Mailula to win the women’s 10km title during the USSA Championship in Bloemfontein.