Field where record-breaking Mashele learnt to run resembles snakebite territory

There is nothing about the sports ground at the Abram Sibasa Primary School in GaMagongoa village, some 30km west of Polokwane, to suggest anything good can come out of it.

If anything, you would think that anyone who dares to play on the ground, that apparently doubles up as a soccer and athletic field, would most probably endure a painful death from a snake bite. Yet it was this field, with its knee-high wild grass and bumpy patches that appear more likely to send a runner tumbling down with a twisted knee than to help him hone his 5,000m skills, which served as the foundation ground for Lesiba Precious Mashele’s career.

On Monday, a day after the Boxer Athletic star had broken South Africa’s 10km record with a scintillating 27:35 run during the Absa Run Your City 10km race in Gqeberha, a teacher who was influential in encouraging Mashele to pursue a running career proudly showed off the grounds.

“This is where it all started. My boy used to run on this field,” Mam Teffo says as we get to the ground, having gone past the school itself, the excitement in her voice ringing with pride at Mashele’s achievement. “Of course it was not as bad as it is now. Back then the grass was not this long and there was a patch around the field for us to draw lines for the track.”

Teffo fondly remembers how “serious and disciplined” a runner Mashele — who went out too fast, ending 15th in 13:48.25, at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 — was even at that early age. She is not surprised her protégé is shining as bright as he is now.

“I love that boy with all my heart. I’ve never seen such a dedicated and disciplined kid as Precious. Academically he was average, but he was amazing when it came to athletics. He was a star in the middle distances, and because he was serious, it is not a surprise he is setting national records now.

“He is putting our village on the map,” says the teacher, proudly adding she was also a decent runner in her day and has an 800m certificate she used to show to Mashele and his peers to encourage them.

Mashele, delighted with his latest feat, has already set his is sights on yet another national record, he revealed in an interview with TimesLIVE Premium the morning after the glorious Sunday.

“I have the dream of breaking the half-marathon record. Actually that was the main plan for this year, to break that record during the World Athletics Half Marathon Championships [in Riga, Latvia] in October. But when I saw how my 10 ‘kay’ training was going, I knew I could break it. I told coach [Hendrick Ramaala], ‘I am in this good shape and I know I can finish stronger so let me go for it.’”

And go for it he did, Mashele running a well-calculated race that saw him start cautiously only to build up steam towards the end for a second-place finish behind Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo. But he broke the previous record of 27:38 set by his good friend and inspiration Stephen Mokoka at the 2015 Great Manchester Run.

“I am always thinking about national records when I go to races. It is a good thing to break records because it not only helps get me recognised by the nation but I also put my name in the books so I will be remembered years later, even as a former record-holder. But it is also a good way for me to attract sponsors because this career can be tough if you don’t have support.”

Reflecting on Sunday’s epic run, Mashele says he was pleased with how race director Mike Mbambani set up the course.

“The day before the race I saw the course was a bit hilly at the start, and after the pre-race conference the race director told us he was purposeful in setting it up that way because he wanted to ensure the Kenyans did not go out too fast. It worked, because we didn’t fly out from the gun, but we built up slowly to get into a good rhythm. We ran a 13:46 at the halfway mark and I knew I was good for the record because the plan was to get there in under 13:50.”

The likes of Mrs Teffo knew when Mashele was still running barefoot on the gravel fields at the Abram Sibasa school that he was going to break records.

Mashele knew that too.

“This thing of records does not start now. It started at school where I was always running and I was strong, winning most of the time.”

Next on his target is the national half-marathon mark of 59:35, ironically held by Mokoka. Mashele’s personal best (PB) in the 21.1km distance is 60:00, which he ran in Poland back in 2021.

“I missed the record by 100m that day, but I believe I can break it this time.”

No-one would argue against that — not on the strength of his 10km run in Gqeberha last Sunday.

Hopefully, his achievements will serve to the municipality in charge of GaMagonogoa to fix that school field, which has now become a hangout spot for nyaope-smoking boys, and get it back to being a good soccer and athletics field so it can help groom the next national record-holder ala Lesiba Precious Mashele.