Impaled man to run marathon
S. African mining employee enters gruelling race
JOHANNESBURG — A South African man who was impaled on a crowbar in a 2015 mining accident has qualified to run in the Comrades ultramarathon on Sunday.
Daniel de Wet lost a kidney and suffered other internal injuries when the 1.8-metre (5.9-foot) metal rod entered his groin area and exited his back just below a shoulder blade.
The 37-year-old said he was “given a second chance” in life and he looks forward to the 89-kilometre (55-mile) Comrades run between the South African cities of Pietermaritzburg and Durban. He ran in the ultramarathon six times before the accident.
“I’m very positive. I’m a little bit nervous,” de Wet said in an interview with The Associated Press. He acknowledged “that small, small hesitation of thinking: ‘Am I going to make it or not?”’
De Wet, who started training last year, completed a marathon last month in four hours and 50 minutes, just under the qualifying time of five hours needed to enter Comrades. He has set himself an ultramarathon goal of 10 hours and 54 minutes, his time when he first ran it. The Comrades cut-off time is 12 hours.
He said he doesn’t want to “overwork my one kidney” and will be careful not to drink too much at water stations, while making sure he stays hydrated. A fellow runner will “take me through to the end” and the support of his wife and three children has been invaluable, said de Wet, an engineering supervisor with the Sibanye-Stillwater mining company.
De Wet’s horrific accident occurred in January 2015 when he slipped onto the crowbar in a mine in Carletonville, a gold-mining area near Johannesburg.