Why we run: Hendrick Ramaala

Heather Dugmore tracks down the personalities behind Wits’ distinguished legacy of distance running as the Varsity Kudus Running Club turns 45 this year.

Hendrick Ramaala (BProc 1994, LLB 1996) started running at Wits in 1993.

“It was really a fluke that I started running and it all happened at Wits,” he says. “I would run around the soccer field when the soccer guys were playing, simply to release the stress from studying. When the soccer field became too small I started running around the streets near Baragwanath Hospital as I stayed in Glyn Thomas residence. I found I just loved running and once you get into it, you can’t get out!”

Ramaala says he had always dreamed of going to Wits “and I managed to achieve my objective of getting admitted to Law School. I was afforded opportunities that I made the most of. One of the biggest challenges was arriving at Wits from my village in Polokwane and adjusting to the new environment and the rigours of studying law.

“After graduating I became a professional runner and my next dream was to win at track, cross country and marathons.” A phenomenal runner, he excelled at numerous races, from 5 000m to 10 000m to cross country to half-marathons and marathons. He won gold at the 1993 Australian Student Games, and became South Africa’s student cross-country and 5000-metre champion. He is a four-time Olympian, he was twice placed second at the World Half Marathon Championship and in 2004 he won both the New York City and Mumbai marathons, among many others.

Today, he runs 20km a day, six times a week but he does not compete. “My dream now is to coach and make sure we beat the East Africans,” he says. He trains professional South African and southern African running champions through the Hendrick Ramaala Sports Foundation. Every

day he is out there with a string of stars at the Zoo Lake Park 3,5km training circuit. Among the champions he trains are Givemore Mudziganyama (2023 Two Oceans winner); Nobuhle Tshuma Mahlangu (2023 N12Ultra winner); and Ntsindiso Mphakathi (2023 Soweto Marathon winner).

Ramaala could have settled overseas but he chose South Africa. “I love it here, I have travelled all over and stayed in many places that side, including London, Paris,

the United States, but I got homesick. I missed my family, the runners here, the sun, I missed everything.”

In response to how he rose so quickly to become a champion runner, he says: “It’s in the mind, I was born with it, and I’m from a rural village, so survival is part of it. People from tough backgrounds work harder and strive to win because of hunger.” He is very matter-of-fact with about the best advice he can give to current marathon and ultra-marathon runners, “it is to win”.*