Former duathlon star makes a living from fencing and welding

‘DAREDEVIL’ is the most befitting way to describe former athlete Thomas Kayele. The man, who became famous as a marathon runner in the cream-and-brown colours of TCL Athletics Club at Tsumeb, has a unique background.

Born at the Old Location in Windhoek in 1966, Kayele was smuggled out of the city to farm Gaub, which is located in the centre of the country’s maize triangle (Tsumeb, Otavi and Grootfontein).

This was due to being light in complexion, which spurred the fear that the authorities would take him and hand him over to the department of welfare for adoption.

Kayele stayed at the farm in the care of his late aunt Cecilia Friedrich, whose husband was in charge of the farm at the time.

“It was not easy, because I stayed at the farm until I was 12 years old before I was sent to Tsumeb to stay with my aunt Suama Kayele, who is the mother of one of Namibia’s acclaimed long-distance runners, Frank Kayele.

“It was embarrassing, because I had to start kindergarten at the age of 12. But a guy had to do what a guy had to do to get an education,” he says.

Kayele says this is when his love for running blossomed, and he started running the 64km between the farm and Tsumeb with Frank during school holidays.

While running, they also carried a bag of maize meal stuffed with dry meat and a 10-litre container of fresh milk from the farm.

“At Opawa school I was introduced to athletics by our physical exercise teacher Hosea Kaiyamo, who was also a long-distance athlete. He would just let us run during his period, and we started loving what he was doing.

“He was a great motivator and he inspired us to take athletics seriously. He would buy trophies and medals out of his own pocket to entice us to run. He was the person who taught me that life was not just about football,” Kayele says.

He says his cousin Frank introduced him to the sport officer of the Tsumeb Corporation Limited, Johan van Tonder, in 1986, who roped him in to join the TCL Athletics Club.

Kayele, who also represented Namibia in South Africa on many occasions, mentions the TCL half-marathon at Tsumeb as his most memorable race ever.

“Oh yes, that is one race I will never erase from my mind. Not because there were many athletes from all over the country, including the famous Sunshine Athletics Club from Katutura with their star runners, but because that was the day I defeated my brother Frank at last.

“I took an early lead but he was just shadowing me as usual knowing that he would catch up with me anytime soon. But I just continued widening the gap between us. I was all fired up and I could even taste blood in my mouth because I was pushing really hard,” he enthuses.

He says that Frank uncharacteristically gave up chasing and he conceded defeat over the 21 kilometre race because he realised that his younger brother was in an uncompromising mood which resulted in him to even cross the finishing line a good 10 minutes later.

The retired runner, who used to cruise with a motorbike through the streets of Nomtsoub, is also talking fondly about the Hardap Dam Triathlon 18 African Nations Triathlon at Mariental, during which he finished third overall after Mark Marabini of Zimbabwe and South African Cor Leinarjee.

The former Otjikoto Secondary School pupil, became one of the most prominent duathlon and triathlon runners in the country, and he was also the national duathlon champion in 1994.

A one-time TCL Junior Sportsman of the Year, Kayele was recruited by Dr Bartholomew and Leon Kohne, after he underwent a long operation and the marathon became too tough for him.

“Both Hennie (Kohne) and Dr Bartholomew did the duathlon as well, but they took me under their wings and mould me into a top duathlete. I was enjoying it and at one point I was the only black duathlete in Namibia. They stopped my 17-year association with the marathon.

“Duathlon and Triathlon are no child’s play. I even used to swim in the Otjikoto Lake with my naughty white friends. My coaches used to give me swimming lessons at TCL swimming pool. It was worth the while because I became an athlete of note,” he explains.

He won his first duathlon after clinching the 40km Engen Duatlon in Bahnhof Street at Tsumeb after clocking the first leg 5km run in 16 minutes, 29 seconds, the 30km cycling in 49:23 and the second leg in 17 minutes, 46 seconds to win the overall event in 1:23:38.94.

Kayele, who moved back to Windhoek to look after his late mother while she was sick in 1996, married his long-time girlfriend Cornel Kayele in 2001 but the wedding, which was blessed with four children (two girls and two boys), was sadly terminated three years ago.

The former duathlete, who lives with two of his youngest children while the two elder siblings are staying with their mother, wakes up at 06h00 every morning to clean his yards and to water his plants before he goes through his job card before he starts working.

Explains Kayele: “I am specialising in all sorts of fencing. I can do game fencing, residential fencing and cattle fencing. However, with the restrictions necessitated by the fight against Covid-19 it is difficult to get jobs out of the city like before these days.

“I am also very comfortable with the welding rod in my hand. I weld gates, sliding gates and burglar bars. The challenges that come with welding is that many people are now doing the job. People will come to you just to get a quotation but they never return.”

He points out that the customers would usually go for the cheapest quotation but it is not always necessarily that the cheapest person would do the best job. He says that he gets a lot of follow up jobs after the other guys have messed up the initial jobs.

Kayele says that he wants to be remembered as an ex-fearless runner for whom time was a very important commodity as he would vigorously challenge to better his previous time always.

He reveals that no one has been able to better the Steeplechase record that he set during the Sanlam Championship in 1993 until today.

Kayele, who says that he is happy with the way his life has panned out, is advicing young athletes to focus on their God-given talent and ignore destruction.

“Stay away from alcohol and refrain from smoking cigarettes.” he says. Exercise a lot because people would tell you that practice makes perfect.

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