(Author: Steve Katzew, Vol. 79, #1, Winter 2024)
I’ve always maintained that humankind is at its best in partnerships across lines of differences in race, religion, and nationality. The Jewish experience in South Africa bears this out. The giddying heights reached by disparate community members in civic affairs, commerce, the sciences, medicine, the arts, law, academia, sport, and seminal political protest, to name but a few, have all been scaled in joint endeavours across every conceivable division in South African society.
An outstanding example of this amalgam is the Rocky Road Runners Club (‘Rockies’), whose once core Jewish membership, successfully integrated with fellow non-Jewish members ranging from some of the finest long and ultra long-distance runners in the country to physically challenged runners, elevated the club into a glittering ornament of the Jewish community and the South African community at large.
Marathon and ultra-marathon running have been integral parts of the South African road running scene from as far back as the early part of the last century. The races are gruelling and tough. Over the years, competitors have joined forces in various running clubs to ease the loneliness of training and competing and to derive encouragement, inspiration, and support from united effort and endeavour.
Rockies had an inauspicious inauguration as a club in 1976. While out on a group run twelve of its founding members, Manfred Hayman, Denis Tabakin, Jeff Fisher, Robin Treger, Lenny Myers, Big Lenny Myers, Dave Finestone, Mike Finestone, Dave Ibry, Mike Nathanson, Alan Pollack and Ivan Smith, all accomplished long-distance runners with credible performances in various marathon and ultra-marathon events, stopped to rest close to then named Jan Smuts Airport. Buoyed by the camaraderie of the moment, one of them then suggested galvanizing of their group into a formal running club. This was met with the spontaneous response “You must have rocks in your head”. Thus concluding the “naming ceremony” of the club!
I have it on good authority (from none other than Victor Boston, who as recently as 9June 2024 completed his 46th consecutive Comrades Marathon) that Manfred (Mannie) Hayman, the most senior member of this informal running group, was pivotal in uniting this group into a formal club.
Amidst the ever-growing tensions between different racial groups that existed in Apartheid-racked South Africa of the time, which erupted into the cataclysmic Soweto uprising in the same year as the founding of Rockies, 1976, untypically for the time, Rockies adopted as one of its founding principles that it was always going to be a completely open club that any person regardless of race, colour or creed could join.
The mainstay activities of all the running clubs that then flourished in South Africa (many of which still continue in the same or under different guises or forms) are the organizing of road races in the name of a club ranging from short courses of 5, 10, 15, 21 or 32 km to marathons and ultra-marathons, the entry of teams of club members in club colors into country-wide short-course races and marathons and ultra-marathons, and the holding of time trials to test the performance levels of members and readiness for participation in various short course races and marathons and ultra-marathons.
Although Rockies only received official affiliation to the then Southern Transvaal Amateur Athletics Association in August 1976, the club had already entered a team of runners into the Comrades Marathon that took place earlier that year. The oldest veteran of the club is Denis Tabakin, a sprightly 82-year-old who is testament to the benefits of a life-long commitment to exercise in the wide outdoors.
Denis has the most wonderful collection of memorabilia of the club, including expertly edited newsletters profuse with names of members, photographs, race results, statistics, and a plethora of incidental information. Included in this collection is the first newsletter of the club, which records this milestone inaugural participation of the club, albeit unofficial, in the 1976 Comrades Marathon.
It is worth quoting the following extracts from Newsletter No. 1/1976, edited by then Rockies Chairman, Ivor Lazerson:
“ … First things first – we are an official Club, known and recognized as ‘THE ROCKY ROAD RUNNERS CLUB’. Club colours are red, white, and blue – with badges, running vests, and if desired, track suits, all on the way.
… Fees are R6-00 per annum for Seniors and R3-00 per annum for Juniors … [T]he Secretary … wishes to announce and acknowledge an anonymous donation of R100-00. With rocks like that, how can we lose?
The initial Committee is as follows –
Chairman: IVOR LAZERSON
Vice-Chairman: DENNIS TABAKIN.
Secretary-Treasurer: FRED SRAGE.
Committee Members: John Brink
Jeff Fisher
Russel Fransman
Lynton Hobson.
Pat Smith.
While the jarring effects of Fields Hill are still with you, lets talk COMRADES.
Rocky Road Runners had no fewer than 49 starters this year, after losing 9 through illness or injury … We had 45 medalists, 4 being silver, 18 novices, and only 4 non-finishers. A proud record indeed. …
Particularly meritorious performances were –
Bernard Fridman, finishing 21st.
Dave Hirschson coming in at 7 hours 14 like a young 50-year-old.
Ivor Lazerson breaking 8 hours in his third Comrades:
…
That should inspire all novices.
H. Gluckman – in running 8 hours 53 at first go.
Nine novices finishing at under ten hours.
COMRADES RESULTS.
21 Fridman B.I. 6 14
147 Hirschson, D 7 14
152 Henry, B. 7 15
206 Myers, L. 7 25
319 Lazerson I. 7 54
331 Greenberg G.G. 7 56 …… …………………….. .…….
1403 Adno, J. 10 56
ROCKY MILESTONES.
* First post Comrades run. 26 runners to Balfour Park, then the Balfour Park ten miler, and home. (Mannie’s that is)
* Great Turnout for the first run, and a welcome to new members Ian Stern and Piet du Preez. Good to see Pat Leslie leading the field again. * …
• You could run your personal best standard marathon over a flat, flat Stilfontein out and return course this year. See fixture list. Ivor will be away, but if interested, lets arrange a convoy. …
The newsletter inter alia reveals what has always been the unique credo of Rockies, namely, to assiduously avoid any distinction between highly competitive top performers in marathons and ultra marathons and rank-and-file competitors. This is reflected by the inclusion in the newsletter of the race numbers, names, positions and times of all 38 finishers of the Comrades between those extracted above, namely the first six (Fridman, B.I. to Greenberg, G.G.) and the 45th placed J. Adno.
Also during 1976, November to be exact, Rockies promoted its first race, a very successful half-marathon held in the Johannesburg suburb of Rivonia which attracted a field in excess of 450 runners and which is renowned for the titanic struggle for first place between two iconic South African marathon runners of yesteryear, Vincent Rakabele and Johnny Halberstadt, which ended in the narrowest of victories for Halberstadt.
The Comrades of the following year, 1977, was the first in which Rockies entered members as a formally affiliated running club. The September 1977 Newsletter lists an astonishing 87 finishers (out of 102 club entries) ranging from Ronnie Sender positioned 40th in a time of 6.44 to Rob Cowling positioned 1 678th in a time of 10.59. This was also the first of longest serving active club member Victor Boston’s 46 consecutive Comrades Marathons to date, hot on the heels of 72-year-old Barry Holland’s record of 49 consecutive Comrades Marathons (Holland was unfortunately unable to complete his 50th Comrades Marathon on 9 June 2024) and Louis Massyn (who, after unfortunately missing the 2022 Comrades due to injury, will forever remain pegged on 47 consecutive Comrades finishes).
Victor was just 17 at the time of his first Comrades, making him well poised at a youthful 63 (still running in the colours of Rockies) to assume the mantle of the most consecutive Comrades finishes.
Like all the newsletters, the 21 pages of the September 1977 edition are suffused with delightful anecdotal material. Space permits the mention of only one such entry, which I have chosen from under the heading “ROOKIE OF THE MONTH” for the insight it reveals into one of the inner workings of the club, namely the acquisition by members of the club colours:
I would think that one of the most patient Rockies of us all is our Rookie of the month Mike “Armpits” Berkowitz. Patient, because almost every new Rocky has been into his shop to buy their colours and invariably, they ask him detailed questions on what the correct running shoe should be, or what size pants are correct or what happens if their vest is too tight. Mike … earned his nickname ‘armpits’ through his very orthodox style of running directly under the left armpit of Senator Lazerson. … Just pop into his shop … and if he is not too busy, he might just give you a demonstration of his famous ‘armpits’ running style!”
Significantly, this newsletter also reinforces the nurturing culture of Rockies in paragraph 1 under the heading ROCKY INFORMATION as follows:
“We are … running [every weekend] … and we would welcome all members … usually a 10-to-12-mile run … We would welcome … especially beginners … [T]hey will receive assistance in all matters relating to running. [It is] [a]lso an opportunity to meet other club members and to find out about any … forthcoming races. No matter how slow you are there are always members who will be able to run with you, assist you and guide you – remember it is not necessary to run the entire course and you can do as much or as little as you please.”
An intriguing entry in the December 1977 Newsletter is the following gem which was a forerunner (pun unintended) to the disregard for every conceivable boundary to the inclusivity of the club’s activities:
“Imagine this, a race in 1977 with a total field of only 80 competitors, held in beautiful surroundings, with no seconding, no traffic, no fancy running shoes, no loud hailer, no registered runners, no track suit badges, no talk of injuries, no moans – but plenty of enthusiasm and great performances. This all followed by a quiet-no-speeches prize presentation. What a fun run this was, the second Rocky Junior Races held at Zoo Lake. Jeff Fisher ran the show again … Four events were run in age groups, … 8 years and under, 10 and under, 12 and under, and 16 and under. Make no mistake about the fact that these kids take these races seriously … young Jodi Derman … beat the boys in [the under 12 races] by over two minutes … Jodi, Sarah Coxall, Craig Hill, and Bradley Fisher are great stylists with abundant natural ability, placing a big responsibility on future parental athletic guidance. Clint Buckham broke the 8 and under record with a time of 3 min 54 sec for 1km and won a special award for best performance of the meet. Bradley Fisher won his event for the second time, and father Jeff has promised us all another race in the near future – so keep the kids’ enthusiasm right there.”
These Zoo Lake runs, which are a feature of Rocky activities to this day, were the forerunner (I really don’t intend all these puns) of what today have become the commonplace park runs, which are an enormously popular activity throughout South Africa.
The pattern of club activity that can be gleaned from the newsletters is that the first five months of the year are devoted to time trials and intensive preparation for Comrades (including the old Pretoria Road holiday run) and the Comrades Marathon itself, followed by the entry of club members into other annual events commencing July like the Sanyo Half Marathon, the Sanyo Johannesburg to Vereeniging Road Relay, the Pick ‘n Pay Hypermarket Centre Road Race, the Verwoerdburg (Centurion) Marathon Club Wally Hayward Country Run and the Great Sanyo Marathon in memory of the late Jackie Gibson (who finished 8th in the marathon for South Africa at the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin and died aged 29 in 1944 on a SAAF Training Flight near Eshowe in KwaZulu-Natal). The race number, name, position and time of each Rockies finisher of these races are all listed in the newsletters.
From the late 1970’s, the range of marathons or ultra-marathons entered by club members (apart from the Comrades of course) widened from local to events further afield like the Stellenbosch Marathon, the Long Tom Half Marathon, the then named Mmabatho Marathon (presumably changed to the Mafikeng Marathon after the dissolving of the Bophuthatswana homeland), the Bar One Korkie Marathon, the Iron Man and the Two Oceans Marathon on the Cape Peninsula.
Champion members of Rockies like multiple Comrades Marathon winner Bruce Fordyce, Theo Rafiri and Hosiah Tjale were also selected in 1993 to represent the South African team in the World 100 km Championships, the latter two as reserves.
The unique all-embracing ethos of Rockies broke through quintessentially with the advent of assisted piloting of blind or visually impaired runners in marathons and ultra-marathons. One would have thought that road running is an almost impossible exercise to undertake with impaired or no vision. However, certain members of Rockies, most notably the late Roy Krowitz, Richie Shakenovsky and the late Gerald Fox, routinely helped visually impaired or blind runners overcome their handicaps by leading them tethered to their arms for distances of up to 90km in ultra-marathons.
The logistics of such an exercise are mindboggling, but the never say never approach of both Rockies’ participants in the exercise, sighted and visually impaired or blind, led inexorably to the not uncommon sight (pun unintended) at major running events of a visually impaired or blind runner being led along the route tethered to the arm of an able-bodied runner.
The highwater mark of chesed – Hebrew for charity, kindness and benevolence – is to give someone less privileged than oneself an opportunity to improve themself. This is no more apparent than in the affording to people plagued with physical or mental handicaps opportunities to explore and fulfil their potential to participate in a sport of their choice.
The best-known blind runner that Rockies has produced is Johnny Demas, who lived in Coronationville to the west of Johannesburg. Whichever of Roy Krowitz, Richie Shakenovsky, Gerald Fox or anyone else was piloting Johnny in a race in the vicinity of Johannesburg would have had to wake up around 4am to cross town to pick Johnny up, and then drive to the start of the race. Afterwards, the same trip would be done in reverse, getting home early afternoon at best. This was of course besides the enormous effort and strain of running with Johnny tethered to the sighted runner’s arm.
Johnny Demas was introduced to road running by a chance encounter with one of the founders of Rockies, Denis Tabakin. Johnny had been assaulted as a young man, which resulted in him being left unconscious on a ventilator for a month. When he woke, he was totally blind. Without any support infrastructure, the vicissitudes of life dumped him mercilessly onto the streets of Johannesburg as a beggar, his only relief from the grip of total despair being visits to Services For The Blind. As fate would have it, Denis was invited to deliver a talk on road running to Services For The Blind. Listening attentively in the audience, Johnny waited patiently for Denis to finish, and then thrust his hand into the air and bellowed ‘I am keen’.
That was the beginning of a running career for Demas that started with being pilot assisted on 5km runs and ended with over 20 Comrades Marathon medals, many other marathon and ultra-marathon finishes, a Spirit Of Comrades Award, being featured on international television, and much more.
As if that was not enough, Johnny’s fortuitous brush with Rockies held far more in store. He was given a job by fellow Rockie Gerald Fox in his business, where Johnny met and married his wife, with whom he had 2 children, and spent the rest of his working life.
Undoubtably this is an exceptional example of how Rockies gives members meaning to life, and in some cases even a future. However, all members, regardless of their challenges, benefit from the opportunity to fulfil their potential and attain optimal health and self-confidence.
The story of Johnny Demas also typifies the boundless energy and generosity of the late Gerald Fox, who tragically himself became a victim to violent crime. His memory is honored to this day in the annual staging of the Rockies Gerald Fox Memorial Race consisting of three distances, 5km, 10km and 21 km. The Rosebank Killarney Gazette of Week ending July 14, 2023, reported that the event, which took place last year on June 2, has consistently maintained high standards of organization, regardless of the route or venue. The same Rosebank Killarney Gazette reported first-place winners in each category last year as follows: 21km men: Lucky Mohale in a time of 1:07:21, 21km women: Karabo More in a time of 1:22:24, 10km men: Nicholas Seoposengwa in a time of 0:31:50, 10km women: Stella Marais in a time of 00:39:33, 5km men: Andries Meyer in a time of 00:19:54 and 5km women: Cassidy Bosman in a time of 00:21:46.
The names of these leading participants, representing a cross-section of South African society, indicate how far the enormous legacy of the late Gerald Fox has shaped, and continues to shape, the evolving unity of South African society, which also attests to the spectacular role of Rockies as one of the many mediums through which the much-loved Gerald continues to make his eternal mark. Likewise, Denis Tabakin’s role in this tapestry has the ring of a theme all of its own. Small wonder that the Chief Rabbi Cyril Harris Humanitarian award was bestowed on Denis at the annual Jewish Achievers’ function in 2006.
The story of Rockies would be incomplete without mention of the Ethembeni School for Disabled Children situated near Inchanga on the route of the Comrades Marathon. Pupils at the school traditionally line the road during the running of the race, exuberantly cheering the runners on. Approximately 40 years ago the scattering of huts then comprising the school on a hill lining the route attracted the attention of a group of Rockies as they climbed the hill. Even amidst the stresses and strains of the arduous climb, they were instinctively moved and inspired to earmark the school for sponsorship. Thanks to expertly administered generosity levered by especially Denis Tabakin with his customary devotion to worthy causes, individual members of Rockies, and the club itself, saw to it that within a relatively short space of time the huts were replaced by conventional school buildings. A steady stream of income and support continues to maintain the school to this day. For over 40 years now the decibels of cheer multiply whenever a runner in the colors of Rockies ascends that hill.
Speaking to members of Rockies helped me understand and grasp the raison d’etre for the establishment of the club. I have already alluded to one of the club’s founding principles of defying then prevailing prejudices for membership of most other sporting clubs based on colour. However, an additional reason that emerges for the establishment of Rockies is that many of the then existing running clubs were also elitist in favour of top performers and neglected the also-rans.
Rockies answered the call for inclusivity on all levels. The high volume of members of comparable nature and profile drawn to its ranks in those dark days of seriously institutionalized division is a remarkable and timely reminder of how the mores of good-natured and even-tempered people can prevail and endure amidst the most rampant aberrant political and societal behaviour.
Years ago, in the late 1980’s/early 1990’s I consulted a physiotherapist Toni Hesp, a veteran marathon and ultra-marathon runner who has many Comrades finishes to her name. I hadn’t seen Toni for many years when we found ourselves at the same prayer service for the late Cecile Hesp at Chabad of Lyndhurst-Kew a few months ago on 19 March 2024. I mentioned to her that I was attending to the finishing touches of this article. Her singular spontaneous response was telling – “I was once a Rockie myself”, she said, failing to conceal a beam that betrayed an enormous sense of gratitude and pride, “and in my first Comrades, which was in the colours of the club, Denis Tabakin, seeing that I was on the verge of baling out, took me by the hand and inspired, guided and led me to my first Comrades finisher’s medal”.
Denis’ legendary support for first time Comrades runners transcends generations. In Newsletter No.2/1976 legend himself Mannie Hayman is reported as being “forever grateful to Denis Tabakin for pushing and singing him through his first Comrades”. After reading an earlier abbreviated version of this article, a good friend and colleague Keith Lang phoned me with a similar story of crediting the “Denis Tabakin Bus” in helping him to his first Comrades medal.
Talking about the unique concept of “ Rockies busses”, the May 1978 Newsletter carries the headline “Join a bus in Comrades” which is an invitation to members to join various groups of Rockies categorized according to estimated times of completion of the Comrades for that year, the idea being that the members of the various groups will stick together for as long as possible to pool seconds and pace one another and generally to relieve boredom and have fun.
One would expect that these “group busses” are a feature of most running clubs today whose members enter the Comrades Marathon.
The stories that have been regaled to me demonstrate how the spirit of Rockies lives forever in the hearts, minds and souls of all those privileged to have been part of, and some who are still part of, a union of women, men, boys and girls that transcends division and celebrates the mutuality of interests and achievement of common goals. It is also the message conveyed to me by my primary sources, the ipse dixit of legendary founding member Denis Tabakin, Dr Ivan Schewitz, Dr Victor Boston, Martin Speier and Desiree Firer, whose careers as long-distance runners fortuitously encompass every era of the club from inauguration in the mid 1970’s to current, and by an article titled A Rockies History by Richard Wilkinson that I picked up on the Rockies website.
I toiled over a suitable conclusion to this profoundly South African story. The answer came to me in a recent telephonic discussion with the ultimate source of my mandate and link to the unlocking of the story, Martin Speier. He gushed with enthusiastic recall of Rockies time trials on Saturday mornings on streets with familiar rings in the heart of suburban Johannesburg. Members in running attire milled about on the sidewalks in social harmony waiting for their performances over 5 or 8 kilometres to be expertly measured, recorded and assessed by the husband-and-wife partnership of Rockies stalwart administrators Val and Richard Wilkinson, which gave individual runners perspective of their prospects for different events on offer ranging from 5km to marathons and ultra-marathons based on the results produced with the utmost care and dedication by Val and Richard, which inspired confidence and assurance of readiness to take on different challenges.
But no sooner had this conclusion crystalized for me, when Dr Ivan Schewitz, who, as already stated, was another of my primary sources, told me about Don Oliver, a Rockie and official Rockies Comrades coach who was instrumental in an enormous number of successful Rockies Comrades medallists. I’m told his technique of planning and time management involved breaking down the race into biteable chunks with a guarantee of a finish if his recipe was followed. He backed up his coaching by being dedicated to running himself with 19 Comrades finishes. After falling short on his 20th attempt, he was diagnosed with vascular disease which eventually required bilateral lower leg amputations. Not one to be deterred, he completed several marathons as a wheelchair athlete. He retained his positive spirit throughout his ordeals until his death and left a legacy of a true gentleman who embodied the spirit of Comrades until the end – never, never give up, always keep moving forward, one step at a time, even if you have no legs.
This description aptly epitomizes the spirit of Rockies, a haven for all those who hold dear the spirit of men and women and girls and boys from all walks of life to conquer their fears and frailties within a collective institution dedicated to the wellbeing and improvement of all of mankind.
If there is meaning to be given to being a light unto the nations, every Rockie proudly reflects that glow.
- Steven Mark Katzew is a Johannesburg-based advocate. He grew up in Virginia and attended High School in Welkom, going on to study Law at Rhodes University, Grahamstown. His articles on South African Jewish sporting personalities have appeared in Soul Sport and Jewish Affairs.
