Old Selbornian Road Runners’ Malixole Kalideni has been one of Border’s top marathon runners pre-2020 and post-2022, and on Saturday, he produced a personal best to finish eighth in the Two Oceans 56km Ultra Marathon in Cape Town.
He took over the mantle of the best at the 2023 Two Oceans when he finished 11th (3:15:36).
Unsurprisingly, 11th is not the most popular position, given that the gold medals are cut off at 10th and he always felt he had unfinished business in Cape Town.
That year, Kalideni took a huge 18 minutes and 54 seconds off his previous best time for the race.
In 2024 he did not run, as he had been given the opportunity to run the London Marathon and only returned to Two Oceans in 2025 when he came 17th in 3:20:27.
At the time he said he was not in his best shape, though most runners would love a top 20.
This year he has quietly gone about his quest for a gold medal, running races to simply test his training and conditioning.
In the build-up to the event, the Daily Dispatch called out Kalideni as the local man to watch.
On Saturday, the man with a large following was up for the challenge.
The first half of the race is fast, requiring serious discipline in a runner’s pacing strategy, and while he took the first 14km to get a feel for the opposition, Kalideni never lost sight of the lead groups until the final breakaway of winner Arthur Jantjies and others.
They had in turn reeled in long-time leader Blessing Waison.
The Border man achieved a personal best of 3:12:49, finishing just seven seconds behind the Entsika AC duo of Sphamandla Nkosi and Siboniso Sikhakane.
“I needed only another 500m. I was feeling so strong I would have caught them,” Kalideni said.
Back at the 45km mark, he had been in 14th position, and at 50km he started “moving”.
The only thing that hampered his progress was having to drink out of paper cups, and at 48km the onset of cramps had him worried.
He recovered, however, and from 53km picked up the pace, clocking 3:05 per kilometre for the final 3km.
Since the race, messages have come in from various sources, including Original Mambas’ secretary Zuko Phamdle, who paid tribute to Kalideni’s “exceptional discipline, mental strength and consistency at the highest level”.
Andrea Ranger, the nuggety Easy Equities Born2Run runner, who, along with husband Bryan, has been close to Kalideni for many years and introduced him to Old Selbornians, said: “I am so proud of him. He just needs to soak it all up and let it sink in. He must be on Cloud 9.”
Kalideni said coach Karen Zimmermann has further plans and that at 34, it appears he will only reach his peak in the year or two ahead.
Meanwhile, the first Border woman home was Siviwe Nomapelana, formerly of Chillie Runners, now in the new colours of Justice Athletics Club with a finish of 5:08:29, somewhat off her previous best of 4:51:06 in 2022.
Former Real Gijimas runner Cwenga Nose, now with Phantane AC in Durban, finished fifth in the half marathon on Sunday morning.
His time of 64:41 was impressive on a tough course.
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