Kumwamba can now show off an even bigger smile after his victory

ONE of the most popular participants in Cape Town trail racing, 28-year-old Malawiborn Edson Kumwamba, reached a high point at the weekend with a record-breaking victory in the oldest trail race on the Peninsula – the 76km Puffer Trail Race, run between Cape Point and Green Point.

Not only does Kumwamba boast the biggest smile in the sport, his positive “can do” attitude has rubbed off on his fellow athletes and after a steady but unremarkable start to his running career, the qualified master-welder at Torres Parts and Components in Retreat is now showing the form of one of the top ultratrail athletes in the Cape.

Kumwamba needed all the “can do” his body and mind could muster to take the race record from Ben Brimble, who clocked 6hr 54min 39sec for the epic journey across the Peninsula mountain chain in 2014.

“When I arrived at Kloof Corner on Tafelberg Road, I realised I could still get the record if I ran hard, so I just gave to everything,” Kumwamba said.

He crossed the line at Hamiltons Rugby Club in 6:54.20 to improve the mark by just 19 seconds.

“I’m really happy to have broken the record,” Kumwamba said.

“After my first two Puffers when everything went wrong, last year went well with my first win. But getting the record this year made it even better.”

Kumwamba grew up in the Mt Mulanje region in Malawi, building his stamina and strength as a porter, before travelling to Cape Town in 2012. His first top placing in a major trail race came when he was second in the 2016 Hout Bay Trail Challenge over 40km, and he made his breakthrough last year, winning both the Puffer and the Table Mountain Challenge.

“My next big race will be Ultra-Trail Cape Town over 100km in December, but I will run the Table Mountain Challenge again as a training run. And I have an opportunity to run the Iranian Silk Road Ultramarathon over 260km in seven days in early October, but I will need to find sponsorship for the flight and accommodation.”

Kumwamba will miss the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon as he will be returning to Malawi to train for Ultra-Trail Cape Town, having recently left his welding job to train full-time.

Meanwhile, Charmaine Salvage raced to her third Puffer win following her success in 2013 and 2014, her time of 9:03 some 50 minutes outside Olivia Read’s long-standing record.