4 minute read
Why we run: The Laxtons
Heather Dugmore tracks down the personalities behind Wits’ distinguished legacy of distance running as the Varsity Kudus Running Club turns 45 this year.
Sonja Laxton née Van Zyl (BSc Hons 1970, MSc 1973) was Wits Sportswoman of the Year in 1969 and 1971. She ran 24 marathons and won several of them. She is retired in Somerset West and still runs every day at the age of 75. She says she feels compelled to run “because I adore it and my nature is competitive”.
An extraordinarily gifted, versatile runner and South African champion in a range of distances –from the 800m to marathons – Sonja won her first marathon in 1980, the Gold Reef Marathon in South Africa, and then ran the New York Marathon, where she finished 11th. She was entered as Zimbabwean as South Africans were not allowed to run internationally due to the sporting sanctions during apartheid. This also meant she could not take part in five Olympic Games. “It was very disappointing but I still managed to compete in a few international events. There were so many good athletes in South Africa in the same situation.”
Sonja says she was never “brave enough” to run Comrades “and I didn’t like training for such long distances, but I have always been an avid watcher of it. My husband Ian Laxton (BSc Hons 1973, MBA 1975) – whom I met at Wits when we both studied biochemistry – did the Comrades and Two Oceans commentary for 30 years on TV. I introduced him to running and he ran Comrades once but he said it was too far,” she laughs.
At Wits, Sonja was part of the running club and was coached by Jan Barnard. Because so few women competed at the time, the University didn’t have running kit for her. “So I bought a pair of boys’ soccer pants and dyed them yellow and found a dark blue T-shirt and I ran in Tiger shoes which cost R5. Jan subsequently got me an Adidas sponsorship.”
The Laxtons’ daughter Kim Laxton (MBBCh 2006, MMed 2017), now a psychiatrist in Johannesburg, was also a Wits marathon runner. Kim was Sportswoman of the Year in 2005.
Comrades is a unique aspect of SA culture
In response to what makes Comrades special, Ian says: “It’s one of those unique aspects of South African culture, like braaivleis, and it goes back to 1921. From the 1970s iconic runners started coming through such as Alan Robb and Frith van der Merwe. The whole country started following and participating in this crazy 90km race. It was a chance for the ordinary person to achieve something extraordinary, and it became a badge of honour. And once the SABC started covering Comrades live from 1985, the country was hooked, all the more so because it was the era of Bruce Fordyce who, in 1981, took over the baton from four-times-winner Alan Robb.
Ian says: “When Bruce kept winning, he arguably became the most famous person in the country and a folk hero. He is a once-ina-lifetime phenomenon. He has the perfect genetics for running and he is a very clever guy with the mental strength to think and talk himself through Comrades. He was an incredibly tough competitor.”
Ian says he’s loved commentating on Comrades, as well as on the Olympic Games, which he covered in 1996, 2000 and 2004: “I loved telling the story to millions of people.”
He’s expanded his love of running to writing too, with his first novel, The Final Lap: Is Winning Enough? (Guide Book Publications, 2023). It explores the world of international track athletics, including the underbelly that exists “alongside fame, fortune, accolades and records”.
