supplied by Tobie Reyneke
Tobie Reyneke may live in Pretoria and work in Roodepoort, but he has a very special bond with the Eastern Cape where he completed both his first and his 100th 100-miler.
Tobie's first 100 miler was the iconic Washie 100 between Port Alfred and East London 14-years ago and now at the weekend, he ticked off the magical number 100 just down the R72 at the Kenton 100 miler (160 km).
At the age of 50, Tobie was a relatively late bloomer when he started Ultra-distance running.
Purely by randomly selecting a race in the Nedbank runner's guide after running for just a few months, Tobie landed on the page promoting the Washie, and the rest as they say is history.
"Its been a bit of a challenge the last few months trying to get from number 98 to number 100 as I've been battling an Achilles injury," said Tobie.
"After a couple of frustrating DNF's I was able to tick off number 99 at the Mac Mac 100 miler and then managed to get the job done at Kenton on a tough 16-km lap course which we had to complete ten times.
"I am so happy that I achieved the milestone at Kenton because the locals there are so special, and I really feel that me completing 100 of these races is also a gift from me back to all the amazing people that helped me along the way."
Reyneke becomes number 21 in the club of ultra-distance runners globally who have completed 100 100-milers, but he's streets ahead of the next best South African in Eric Wright who has completed 52.
"Eric and Butch Duffy have done the most Washie's, Eric 27 and Butch 26. I've already told Eric I'd love to try and help him to get to 30 and I guess that in itself means I'm going to have to keep going," laughed Tobie.
He admits that he might have to hit the pause button to get the Achilles properly sorted, but that in terms of doing something he absolutely loves, there's no way he is going to stop ultra-distance running any time soon.
Remarkably, all these wonderful adventures have been completed here on home soil, as much as he'd like to run overseas one day.
"We have all these amazing events on our door step and I got to thinking that if people are coming from abroad to run these races then there is no reason I should not be either," said Tobie.
"I travelled South Africa a fair bit before I started running everywhere so for me its just a wonderful opportunity and thrill to see our beautiful country in slow motion. Its the biggest privilege for me to run through the night with the special people that make up the ultra-distance running community and to be quite honest, there is nowhere else I would rather be."
Tobie points out that the Eastern Cape has the most 100-milers of any of the provinces in the Washie, Kenton, Addo and Lofer (at Longmore).
"I hate to admit it as a Gautenger but I really love the Eastern Cape and the people of the Eastern Cape. They give me so much joy and especially this weekend being back in Kenton brings back wonderful memories. As a destination to run in or just to be in, the Eastern Cape is absolutely special."
