"I feel honoured" - All eyes on Team SA as Mdu Khumalo leads men's half marathon team at World Road Running Championships

After South Africa’s men’s half marathon team picked up the team bronze medal at the last edition of the World Athletics Road Running Championships in 2023, all eyes will be on the current cohort when they don the green and gold in Copenhagen, Denmark this weekend (September 19-20). Standing in his second stint as a national coach after previously leading the 100km team in Germany in 2022, Mdu Khumalo is well aware of the responsibilities he shoulders.

"I'm happy to be selected as the national coach," he tells #TheTopRunner. "It's a huge achievement for me. South Africa has a lot of wonderful coaches who are doing splendid work in coaching athletes, so to be selected among them is something I must be super proud of," explains Khumalo, who is the founder of KwaZulu-Natal based running club, Phantane Athletics Club.

Khumalo poses with Tshite, Matwebu, Nose and Tshite's coach Samuel Sepeng at the OR Tambo International Airport before the team departed for Denmark. Photo Credit: Supplied.

"I think I must also thank God for giving me strength to coach athletes each and every day because it’s not always easy to get the best out of athletes. This appointment is something I celebrate because it shows that there are people who appreciate the work I'm doing in trying to develop athletes and the sport of running as a whole. It also serves as huge motivation to keep on doing what we are doing. Overall, I feel honoured to be appointed as national coach for this competition."

Three Phantane athletes (Tshepo Tshite, Ngconde Matwebu and Cwenga Nose) chosen to represent the nation in Denmark. Matwebu and Nose, who are coached by Khumalo, will race the half marathon after coming first and second respectively at the national 21km championships in Nelson Mandela Bay in June. Khumalo describes 2026 as one of the best year’s of his career. He attributes this success to perseverance and never giving up, even when things were not going as planned.

Phantane's Ngconde Matwebu won the SA 21km title when he finished second behind Kenya's Rodgers Murei at the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon on 27 June, 2026. Photo Credit: NMB Half Marathon.

"This is probably one of the best years I ever had in athletics. Since 2023, we have been trying to strike the balance between performing on the track, cross country and the roads. Now, we have managed to master that. At Phantane, we are unique club that has excelled from the track all the way through to road running, where most clubs focus on one discipline. So to see how things have worked out this year makes me feel proud. We are now aiming to build consistency from here," he says.

Matwebu and Nose will run along Elroy Gelant in the men's half marathon team, while Glenrose Xaba, Cacisile Sosibo and Karabo Mailula will run in the women’s 21km team. The only South African to break 27 minutes over 10km Maxime Chaumeton has been selected to run in the 5km race as he did in Riga, Latvia in 2023. Chaumeton is alongside Thapelo Ramokhoase, Tayla Kavanagh and Zanthe Taljaard in the 5km team. SA 1500m record holder Tshepo Tshite headlines the men’s mile team alongside the Free State’s Dumisani Motloung, while African 1500m champion Karabo More and Carina Viljoen are the two female milers in the 14-member squad.