'I can now develop as an athlete without pressure' - Mhlakwana returns to short distances to lead KZNA Cross Country team
Since announcing his intentions to return to competing over the shorter distances, Nkosikhona Mhlakwana is looking forward to representing KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) at the Athletics South Africa (ASA) Cross Country Championships on Saturday 7 September. For the past five years the Hollywood Athletic Club athlete has been seen as one of the country's leading ultra marathon runners. His impressive list of achievements include placing inside the top three at the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon twice (2nd in 2022, 3rd in 2023) and earning a Comrades Marathon gold medal when he took sixth position in the 2022 edition of the oldest ultra in the world.
But Mhlakwana's shock decision to move back to focus on the standard marathon, half marathon and 10km is already beginning to bear fruit. He managed to win the (KZNA) Cross Country Senior Men's 10km title last month with a time of 31:43 in Amanzimtoti - South of Durban. It will be the first time in a decade that the man who started as an 800m athlete will don the black and white of KZNA in the Cross Country discipline as he spearheads the team that will compete at Vaal University of Technology. The 31-year-old says his decision to return to cross country is part of a bigger plan.
"The last time I ran the SA Cross Country Champs was way back before I started to focus on the ultra marathons. If I remember correctly, we won a team medal in a squad that had the likes of Nkosikhonathi Sibiya in it. I included these Championships in my plans because I have shifted to short distances. I'm still in a marathon training programme with the aim of improving my personal best time. If I can be able to run 28 minutes over 10km distance then 2:11 or 2:10 is doable. We all know how crucial cross country is if you are looking to develop as an athlete so I'm following that procedure. Its all part of my plans this year," said the man who is the holder of a 2:16:33 personal best achieved at the 2021 Sanlam Cape Town Marathon.
Having already represented his province at the national 50km championships in Gqeberha in February where he took the SA title in 2:50:12, the former winner of the Prince Mangosuthu 50km Ultra Marathon is hopeful that he will produce similarly positive results at this weekend's event. "I'm so happy that I got to represent the province for the second time this season. It a privilege all the time to do it. Last time (ASA 50km Championships), it brought good results as I finished third overall in the race so I'm looking for productive results too in the upcoming weekend."
But individual performances aside, the Hollywood Athletics Club top runner believes that what matters most are not the results on Saturday but how he can lead his teammates who include the likes of Makwande Mngwengi and Ngconde Matwebu to produce their best on the day to the benefit of the province.
"I'm not going out there to win the race. My plan is to help the team to achieve a team medal. Looking at the bigger picture, most runners respect me so think of the effect I'm going to have on them. To me it's about inspiring them to believe in what they do and achieve it. For instance, I'm known as a Comrades runner but I decided to move back to short distances because I feel I can now develop as an athlete without pressure. The reason I jumped into ultras is because I knew what my background was then. Now I have finally changed my situation at home, so the focus is on bigger things. I won't even rule out the Olympics because it is every athlete's dream. So I'm setting an example for other athletes to understand themselves before being told what to do."
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