Despite health complications that threatened to derail his running plans a former University of KwaZulu-Natal academic will line up for his 44th Comrades on Sunday.
Mike Cowling, 73, was diagnosed with tuberculosis in March after contracting it from his wife. “I never had any symptoms, it just happened that I was positively diagnosed. My wife is out of the woods now,” said Cowling.
He said the medication had caused some muscle problems during a peak training period.
Cowling recalled how the ultimate human race had won his heart during his schooling days at Capricorn High School in Limpopo.
He said the marathon was one of the reasons he had later moved to KwaZulu-Natal.
“I moved because the former University of Natal (now UKZN) offered a law degree and obviously Comrades.”
Cowling has 14 silver medals under his belt with a personal best time of 6:46.
“In the two Comrades runs I tackled I had the misfortune of having flu but that did not stop me. You know ... you train for months and then you catch flue and then you tell yourself stuff that,” he said.
Cowling will run under the colours of Hilton Harriers running club which boasts more than 43 runners who will be taking part in this year’s up run.
He said over the decades he had been fortunate to be able to juggle road running and work.
“There has never been anything that prevents me from running because I wake up at five in the morning. I have also managed to run in both the morning and afternoon.”
The father of three said his glowing road running record has done little to entice his children to follow in his footsteps, though they do run shorter distances.
“It’s probably because they normally see what I often look like at the finish,” said Cowling.
“My family has said to me this is the last time that I take part in the race so I am seeing this as my last race,” he added.
TimesLIVE
Former University of KZN academic Mike Cowling lines up for his 44th Comrades marathon
Image: supplied
Despite health complications that threatened to derail his running plans a former University of KwaZulu-Natal academic will line up for his 44th Comrades on Sunday.
Mike Cowling, 73, was diagnosed with tuberculosis in March after contracting it from his wife. “I never had any symptoms, it just happened that I was positively diagnosed. My wife is out of the woods now,” said Cowling.
He said the medication had caused some muscle problems during a peak training period.
Cowling recalled how the ultimate human race had won his heart during his schooling days at Capricorn High School in Limpopo.
He said the marathon was one of the reasons he had later moved to KwaZulu-Natal.
“I moved because the former University of Natal (now UKZN) offered a law degree and obviously Comrades.”
Cowling has 14 silver medals under his belt with a personal best time of 6:46.
“In the two Comrades runs I tackled I had the misfortune of having flu but that did not stop me. You know ... you train for months and then you catch flue and then you tell yourself stuff that,” he said.
Cowling will run under the colours of Hilton Harriers running club which boasts more than 43 runners who will be taking part in this year’s up run.
He said over the decades he had been fortunate to be able to juggle road running and work.
“There has never been anything that prevents me from running because I wake up at five in the morning. I have also managed to run in both the morning and afternoon.”
The father of three said his glowing road running record has done little to entice his children to follow in his footsteps, though they do run shorter distances.
“It’s probably because they normally see what I often look like at the finish,” said Cowling.
“My family has said to me this is the last time that I take part in the race so I am seeing this as my last race,” he added.
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