WELKOM – Local marathon legend Nkhetheni Masupa finished first among South African athletes at the Boston Marathon on Monday 20 April, clocking at time of 02:38:13.

“I never even thought about the finishing time as I was just enjoying the total experience and got a surprise by clocking this outstanding time. This finish earned me overall position 938 of 30 000 and position six in my age category of 3 448 athletes. A total of 101 South African athletes participated and I’m leading the team, overall position number one brilliantly achieved. So I’m really grateful and happy.”

He arrived in the city on Friday afternoon. “I checked in at the hotel and went straight to the marathon expo to collect my bib number and do some shopping before going back to the hotel to start working on jet lag. On Saturday morning I went for a 12 km shakeout run – 4 km solo warm-up run before joining an official Boston 5 km, earned my medal and continued with my solo 3 km cool-down run,” he says.

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On Sunday morning he joined another 5 km shakeout run with the Black Men Run Boston team. The run brought the South End’s Green Book history to life.

“We heard stories highlighting jazz clubs – Barack Obama, Martin Luther and Muhammad Ali’s favourite place – historic homes like Martin Luther King Jr’s and neighbouring gathering spaces that shaped Boston’s Black travel experience. This was a relaxed, conversational run rooted in community, history and discovery. The run concluded at the finish line of the Boston Marathon presented by Bank of America. I must say this was an awesome experience and I made lots of friends,” says Masupa.

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He says his Boston run was sustained by encouraging messages from friends, family members, Welkom Runners Fellow Lovely members, his Team Vitality group and Sports4Ubuntu community in England that started flooding in throughout Sunday.

He expected the difficult hilly course to humble him, but with the help of spectators and their cheers throughout the course, it made things more special.

The whole city embraces this marathon as a tradition. Masupa has run in other international cities around the world and there are always thousands of spectators cheering. “But this is not really part of the fabric; the culture of this city is just something else.”