Durban - Losing his wife and son in a car accident last year was one of the biggest battles for Comrades runner Krishna Naidoo.
Naidoo lost two of his biggest supporters in an instant.
Many would have given up, but instead the 62-year-old retired teacher from Dawncrest in Verulam runs in dedication to them. He will be competing in his 29th Comrades Marathon this year.
Naidoo was a runner at a young age. He ran track and cross-country at school and later at the Springfield College. He joined the college’s athletics club, which was where he was introduced to road running and eventually the Comrades.
He took part in his first Comrades in 1983 at the age of 22.
“I was inexperienced. I knew nothing about nutrition, diet, or the training part of it. It was trial and error, but I managed to finish the race in a time of 10 hours and 30 minutes.
“It was an exciting time even though I had no idea what to expect. I did not understand the gravity of running a 90km race. At the end of the race, I was in a lot of pain. My body was sore."
He said after completing the first race he understood how much he needed to prepare.
“I had also been playing football at the time, so I did the first three in a row, had a break and started back up again and completed 25 consecutive runs. Of those runs, I got two silver medals and my best time was 7 hours and 25 minutes.”
Naidoo said over the past two years he has had hamstring injuries due to training, and would be happy if he completed this race in 11 hours.
He said his biggest battle, however, was losing his wife and son.
On April 10, his wife Krishnaveni, 59, and his son, Paven, were on their way home from Richards Bay, when the accident happened.
“She went to see her brother who had been sick. During the Covid pandemic, she was unable to see him, so she decided to see him last year. I was meant to take her, but my son volunteered to go.
"On their way back, at a place called aMatikulu, a car heading north toward Richards Bay swerved into my son’s direction. My son tried to avoid the vehicle, I think, by braking, but the vehicle behind him hit him and his vehicle ended up in oncoming traffic. Both my son and wife died at the scene.”
He said losing his biggest supporters was the hardest.
“They would take me to The Workshop where I would get onto the bus to travel to Pietermaritzburg for the down run. Once I got to Durban, they would be there to pick me up. I don’t have that any more. They have always been a motivating factor for me. Since last year’s race, I have been dedicating my run to them.
“My son, who was a service adviser at Ballito VW, would have been 27 last Monday. He used to drive me around for my races and never said no to me. He was also going to get married this year. My son was a lot like his mum and to lose them both at once is a pain hard to describe.”
He said both he and his wife were teachers.
“I was an accounting teacher at Earlington Secondary in Phoenix and she was a teacher for the Grades 1, 2 and 3 at Dawncrest Primary in Verulam. I retired in 2021 and she retired last January. She only had two months of retirement.”
He said his wife was his soulmate.
“There is no one else on earth like her. We were married for 35 years. I was from Port Shepstone and she was from Stanger and we met in the hostel at Springfield College. From the time we married, she became my coach.
"We would go for the Comrades workshops together and would pick up most of the information to guide me on my training and diet. She was my helping hand, I really miss her.”
He said his remaining children, two daughters, were married and lived in Johannesburg.
“As long as I run, I will run for my wife and son.”
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