One-legged drug addict shows power of the spirit

FOR those at the elite end of the game going through the ordeal of preseason training, and for those in the grass-roots game who are contemplating it over the next couple of months, here’s a story to inspire you to break through the pain barrier.

Last weekend was a big one for South African sport with the new beginning for the Springboks under Rassie Erasmus and Siya Kolisi getting underway with the win at Ellis Park over England, followed on Sunday by the Comrades Marathon, a gruelling road race in KwaZulu-Natal which has earned worldwide renown.

The annual 90km (56 mile) ultramarathon between Durban and Pietermaritzburg – one year uphill from Durban the next downhill from Pietermartizburg – has become a South African institution.

It is one with a Springbok connection with Bill Payn, a World War 1 veteran who won two caps for South Africa in 1924, coming eighth of 114 after running the course in a pair of heavy rugby boots – and then playing a match for his club, Durban Old Collegians, the following day.

Wynand Claassen, the 1981-83 Springbok captain also finished the Comrades ten times after he stopped playing rugby, following in the footsteps of his father, George, who was the 1961 winner.

This year one of the 20,000 participants was a former homeless drug addict and amputee, Xolani Luvuno. After being orphaned as a child, and losing a leg to bone marrow cancer, he became addicted to Nyaope, a highly addictive, dangerous street drug containing heroin and dagga, which is unique to South Africa.

Luvuno, now 34, moved from the Eastern Cape to Pretoria in his twenties in search of a new start but became snared in the drug world, and ended up begging at traffic lights in Centurion, near Pretoria.

His road to salvation, and to the Comrades Marathon, came with the aid of Hein Venter, a local businessman who helped him to quit drugs, and make a new start.

Venter said: “I used to drive past Xolani every day to and from work. I was intrigued by how young he was, with no leg, and wondered what he was doing on the streets.”

Venter stopped one day to ask Luvuno about his life, and says his first response was, “Hello father, how are you?”

He added that during their conversation he made a connection with the young down-and-out.

“I saw something in him,” Venter said. The modern day Good Samaritan employed Luvuno at his business, found him a place to stay, and got him a prosthetic leg.

Determined to use running to kick his drug habit and live clean Luvuno started practising to take part in the Comrades last Christmas at a farm just outside Pretoria. He refused to give up on the dream of completing it even when an open wound on the stump of his amputated limb meant he could no longer use running blades.

Instead, he took to a new training routine, propelling himself forward using one leg and two crutches.

Showing super-human determination, that is how Luvuno completed the 56 mile course last Sunday, having been given special dispensation to start the race five hours before the rest of the runners to give him a chance of finishing within the 12 hour time limit. He crossed the finishing line just before 5pm to achieve that goal, and was met with a crescendo of cheers and applause from the crowd.

Luvuno said of his remarkable feat of endurance: “I never considered myself to be much, but on Sunday I was everything. When I crossed the finish line I had some sort of flashback of my life – and one thing I’m proud of is swapping my Nyaope addiction for running.”

He added: “The Comrades Marathon is not just about physical ability. It is about sheer determination and spirit. It was about conquering myself and inspiring others to do the same. Too often we focus on what we don’t have and forget what we are blessed with.”

Overcome with emotion Luvuno said he had been a man with a mission: “I want to do it for everyone who was told they could never achieve anything.”

“The Comrades Marathon is not just about physical ability. It is about sheer determination”