There is a need to assist athletes, in all disciplines, to secure an adequate education in the quest for a secure lifestyle after sport.
In a small, largely rural and often under-resourced sporting province such as Border, this is critical.
Mlamli Nkonkobe is a marathon and general distance runner, as well as a former boxer.
For this article, we are concentrating on the running aspect of athletics.
In his book The History of Border Road Running, published in August 1996, the late Tony Viljoen, himself an athlete and administrator of note, shares some of Nkonkobe’s successes, rating him as one of the five most prominent distance athletes of the 1980s.
When the Daily Dispatch, which played a huge role in Viljoen’s project, dug deeper this past week, it became obvious that in the case of Nkonkobe, he was still relevant into the mid-1990s.
What precipitated this story was Nkonkobe having been capped for an advanced diploma — NQF level six in financial management and accountancy.
Nkonkobe is now in his mid-60s, and given the emphasis being placed on education for young athletes, he is, and so too are his sporting peers, exceptionally excited at what he has achieved and the example that it is to all sports people.
It is said we are who we surround ourselves with, and while emerging as a meaningful distance runner, Nkonkobe seems to have achieved exactly that, running, racing and travelling to events with the likes of Justice Teyise who was a tough man to beat back in those days and who was the master-of-ceremonies at a home celebration to honour Nkonkobe and his achievements.
He also raced against other magnificent locals, the likes of Makaya Masumpa, a master of distances from 10 to 21.1km, the late Willie Mankayi, a man of perfection, and Gordon Shaw, who, like Nkonkobe, is a past Buffs Marathon winner — Shaw in 1983 and Nkonkobe in 1988.
They also shared wins at the Stutterheim to King William’s Town (Qonce) marathon, Shaw being older, in 1977, and Nkonkobe in the same year that he won Buffs.
The first running boom hit in the late ’80s, and an entry of in excess of 500 runners was breached for the first time at the 1988 Buffs, with Nkonkobe the proverbial Pied Piper who led the runners home in 2:19:16 — a sub-2:20 being a major target in that era.
The 1984 Ciskei Marathon was another victory, as was the 1987 Old Selbornian Marathon.
He claimed many titles and was often in the top three at marathons and road races in general.
In half marathons, the taller-than-most runner, Nkonkobe, features in results throughout the years, including numerous wins and podium positions at events such as a once sought-after ELAC Half Marathon, the prestigious Amatola Sun half marathon in 1990 and 1992, the King Half Marathon, The Parker Pen Half Marathon, a trial race in preparation for hosting SA Champs, and the extremely popular Nite Race on a few occasions.
At the 1993 Nite Race, he featured in a mammoth race to the finish with an SA champion, the late Michael Scout of Eastern Province.
Nkonkobe was second on a rolling suburban course in 66:12.
He was also Border 15km champion earlier in 1987 and won the fast Kromberg and Schubert 15 organised by Buffs in 1988 and 1989.
A generally quiet, unassuming man, he nonetheless has opinions on many important aspects of life and growing up, which have kept his peers enthralled.
That he is a role model for the youth and athletes in general, there is no doubt.
Nkonkobe ran for a few different clubs, with Real Gijimas being one, where he learnt his trade effectively.