You cannot talk about Namibian long-distance running without mentioning the name Edward Gariseb.
The Katutura-raised runner, who was born at a farm outside Rehoboth, made a name for himself after running for the star-studded Windhoek Harriers and formidable Tsumeb Corporation Limited (TCL) Athletics Club.
Gariseb was introduced to road running by his late uncle Hendrik Engelbrecht, also a Windhoek Harriers member.
“My involvement with athletics was limited to the shorter distances like 1 500m and 3 000m while I attended Jan Jonker Afrikaner Secondary School at Katutura. Otherwise, I enjoyed playing striker for Golden Chicago in the Khomas First Division,” Gariseb says.
“My uncle used to fix cars and I assisted him as a tool boy. One day he told me we should leave the car until the next day. He wanted to rest because he had to go jog in the morning. I asked if I could join him and he agreed. The rest is history.”
Gariseb officially joined Windhoek Harriers in 1985 and only put away his running shoes in 2000.
“I can proudly look back and say I’ve run the race and won the battle. I’m happy with my achievements, but I’m also disappointed that I never ran the Comrades Marathon and the Two Oceans Marathon,” he says.
“I dominated the 52km Pepsi Fish River Marathon, which I won for three successive years, with my last victory in 1994. It also turned out to be my last race, which I completed in a new Namibian record time.”
Gariseb enjoyed a successful spell in Windhoek Harriers colours. His career saw him dominating the Great Train Race, an event run from Windhoek Train Station to Aris, around 30km south of Windhoek.
The runner says he did not have a specific person who influenced his career, but he started to gain prominence at a time when icons like George Mukuahima, Rudolph Kgobetsi, Moses Narib and Bravo Angula were at their peak.
“I may not have had the frame of a typical marathon runner with long legs but my short frame and engine room were designed for long distances. Also counting in my advantage is the fact that I had endurance and I was commanding the hills,” Gariseb says.
“I always made sure I was part of the leading pack in the marathons. I did not have the speed to break away from my fellow runners and take a commanding lead but I was the master of the hills. Once we approached a hill I would race clear and be gone.”
The former footballer says he never enjoyed running on the track, preferring competing on the road and running the 21km and 42km distances.
Gariseb moved to Tsumeb in 1987, where he ran alongside the gifted Kayele cousins, Frank and Thomas, and the evergreen Lukas Halweendo.
Although the Kayele cousins took most of the limelight, Gariseb also chirped in with a victory of his own, most famously, the sought-after Etosha Fishing Dolphin Marathon, which is still one of the country’s most prestigious marathon races.
However, the Windhoeker moved after only a year following a fallout with a supervisor at TCL Mine, resurfacing at Rössing Uranium under sport officers Abraham So-Oabeb and the late Harry Garus-Oab.
Gariseb also remembers tough times representing Namibia in pre-independence competitions in South Africa.
“I had a great time travelling to some of the biggest cities and towns in South Africa with the Southwest Africa athletics team. However, the competitions there were very tough, actually too tough and very demanding. It felt like you were running against machines,” he says.
“South African athletes are very competitive and they always have this thing of not wanting to be outshined on their home turf. That is a very good thing to emulate.”
Gariseb says he never went to compete in his favourite races like the half marathon and the marathon – over 21km and 42km respectively, but he was always selected for the cross country teams.
“But who was I to complain because, despite that, I went to South Africa to give it my best shot. The runners there were experienced and in their own league,” he says.
“Two of my unfulfilled dreams was to run in the Two Oceans Marathon and the Comrades Marathon but instead it was only cross country competitions in places like Cape Town, Durban, Klerksdorp and Port Elizabeth.”
Gariseb, happy with his achievements as an athlete, says he is also glad he retired from running due to injuries while still good.
He says he respects the country’s long distance runners, developing a special liking for World Championships silver medalist and Olympian Luketz Swartbooi.
“Luketz was a very dangerous person to compete against. He was always well prepared for competition and a great strategist. If you think about other stuff while running against him he will leave you behind and you will never catch up with him.” Gariseb says.
The former runner married his longtime sweetheart Sophia Garises in 2020, with one child from an earlier relationship.
The three-time Fish River Canyon Marathon champion calls himself a soft entrepreneur.
“I buy household cleaning products . . . in bulk, then I resell them to my customers in smaller quantities. The business is good because those are items people need at home on a daily basis,” he says.
“However, I have to take my products to my customers to attract their attention. I have to go as far as the B1 Shopping Centre to do business. I am just happy I am making an honest living, but you find people who take things on account and are reluctant to pay come month end.”
Gariseb says he misses running, especially when he sees people running, recalling his golden days, but he has no favourite runner now because they are unknown to him.
“I can only advise the young runners to train hard because success only comes from hard work. Even in school, you only pass when you study and in athletics you only win when you train. You are never going to win the race if you run unfit,” Gariseb says.
