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DOCTOR Keletso Nyathi has an acute addiction to pushing his body to breaking point. Name an extreme competition, and he has likely conquered it over the past 20 years of taking part in endurance sport.

His latest conquest was becoming one of a limited group of people to have successfully negotiated the Amuk challenge, a gruelling South African series of four 100 mile (about 160 km) races across six months.

Launched in 2019, the course consists of the Addo Elephant Trail Run 100 miler, the Mac Mac Ultra 160, the Ultra Trail Drakensberg 160 and the Karkloof 100 Mile.

It was an immensely taxing but richly rewarding experience which he would undertake again in a heartbeat, the indefatigable doctor says.

“There is nothing that describes the freedom of running through the night alone with your thoughts, often through national parks with wild animals for company,” Nyathi says.

“Carrying your ration of food and water awakens the primal instincts of human survival that has been stripped away by the trappings of modern civilisation,” he says.

“I am happy to see the growth in popularity of trail running, and I’m sure this Amuk award is the first of many to come for Namibia.”

His epic adventure was not without challenges, albeit self-inflicted, he says.

Before the final Amuk test, Nyathi, endlessly on the lookout for a new challenge, journeyed to Europe for a tilt at the Ultra Trail Mont Blanc, a knee-jerk decision that almost backfired.

“I was not as well prepared as I should have been, but I still managed to run a 100 miles before missing a crucial cut-off time and missing out on running the final 10 miles of the 110 mile mountain race,” he says.

“The whole experience of running in the Alps was mind blowing and a whole lot easier than I feared.

“Recovering from Amuk took much longer than I anticipated. My body was ravaged – the almost 10 000 metres of accumulated climbing took its toll, leaving my legs wobbly for weeks afterwards.

“I went off to take on Karkloof, the last race of the series, with my tank literally on empty,” he says.

SERIAL ADVENTURER

There was still just enough in the tank left to see him through the final Amuk stretch at Howick, KwaZulu-Natal, despite a series of misadventures – missed flights, missing gear and a faulty GPS – which has become his trademark.

He completed the series – concluding race with 20 seconds to spare.

“Despite the lingering memory of the Alps weighing heavy on my legs, this run was much easier. Being the last run of the series, all I had to do was finish within the allocated 36 hours. I paced myself well enough for a comfortable finish in 30 hours,” Nyathi says.

He is one of a handful of runners in Namibia to hold a green number distinction for the Comrades Marathon, awarded to a runner who completes 10 or more runs.

He also has blue-number status – for 10 completed ultra or half-marathons, or trail runs – at the popular Two Oceans Marathon held annually in Cape Town, South Africa.

Together with three friends, Nyathi completed the inaugural Gondwana Seven Marathon Series, running seven marathons in as many days across Gondwana lodges of the same number.

People often wonder what motivates him to keep running continuously for 30 plus hours through the night on treacherous terrain and often during foul weather.

The respected doctor, who is equally revered for charity work, says it is not insanity.

“These events are dangerous and lives have been lost,” he cautions.

PITFALLS

Two runners lost their lives after running 90km at the Comrades Marathon this year.

“Running this distance wreaks havoc on the body. Speaking from personal experience, after each gruelling race, I experience in varying degrees kidney failure, liver inflammation, muscle breakdown, immune suppression, and multiple black toenails,” Nyathi says.

“No one runs an ultramarathon for health reasons. If you want to be healthy, go to a park run and run a 5km on the weekend,” he says.

Until recently, winners of trail running were not compensated with monetary prizes.

“Running in nature, frequently through untamed and protected areas not usually open to the public is reward enough,” Nyathi says.

“When you toe the line for a trail, the only competition is often with yourself. There is a sense of camaraderie among fellow runners, a combined effort to conquer the course together,” he says.

“Running an ultra trail race may be an individual event, but it is far from a solo sport.

“There is an army of supporters that make the running easier – the dot followers who sit up all night following your dot on the GPS tracker holding their breath and hoping you don’t get eaten by a random leopard.

“ . . . the friends who run with you on training runs, and if you’re lucky, the support crew who show up at checkpoints with a change of socks and your favourite biltong snacks,” he says.

Tune in to Desert Radio to hear more from Nyathi live on ‘The Rush Hour’ at 17h00 today.