The athlete is however deep in thought, reflecting on his athletics career which almost went up in smoke after suffering a career threatening injury in 2010. “I cannot believe I am back from the long layoff,” he mutters to himself.
Indeed, the hot spot expert is back into serious athletics business.
Just like Feddy Kashiri, the unheralded athlete has been a hit in South Africa winning hot spots (pace making) during the Comrades Marathon. The athlete has however been overshadowed by the performance of the three-time Comrades Marathon winner Stephen Muzhingi. Dandare has been a toast, winning two hot spots in 2009 and one in 2010, the year he kissed goodbye to athletics due to a knee injury.
Dandare made his debut in the Comrades Marathon in 2009, the year countryman Muzhingi won the race after five years of trying. Dandare said his aim is not to win the race but he claims he is an expert in hot spots (pace making).
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“I made my debut in 2009 where I managed to win for pace making on two occasions. The first one was the 12km valued at R12 000 and the second is the 27km valued at R16 000. I could not make it for the last hot spot which is almost at the end of the race,” Dandare said.
“In 2010, I managed just one hot spot for 12km. I did not finish the race as I started having problems with my knee which has sidelined me for a long time. I had ruled myself out of sport for the rest of my life.”
“I think the injury was caused by the non-availability of useful information in terms of the training terrain. During the preparations, we were based in Durban, South Africa so we used the same training terrain everyday which greatly affected my performance during the race leading to the injury.”
Dandare then made his dramatic comeback when he recently took part in the Spar Peter Gradwell 10km race in the capital in which he won.
“That was my comeback. As of now I am preparing for the March 4 Cross Country 12km race. I hope to do better than I did last weekend in terms of time. I can tell you that the medication cost me a fortune even though I did not go under the knife.”
Born and bred in Chivhu, Dandare came to Harare as a grown up boy and did his primary education at Cold Comfort in Kuwadzana before proceeding to Kuwadzana High for his secondary education up to Form three. He was lucky to be offered a one-year scholarship programme at Prince Edward for his final year.
