Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 12

LEAD STORY Dynamite Comes in Small Packages The merest breeze seems strong enough to knock Shadrack Hoff over. Standing 1.73m tall and weighing a mere 55kg, one commentator summed it up best a few years ago when he said that he “had seen more meat on a matchstick.” But beneath that diminutive figure lies a determination and steely resolve that saw Shadrack win titles and set records on SA soil, perform well at the World Cross Country Championships, twice lead an SA team to victory in the prestigious Ekiden Relay in Japan, and twice be part of the gold medal winning SA team at the World Half Marathon Championships. As they say, dynamite does indeed come in small packages! – BY MANFRED SEIDLER 12 ISSUE 124 NOVEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za O ne of the most awe-inspiring moments in South African athletic history was watching the diminutive figure of Shadrack Hoff leading the World’s best around the circuit of the 1996 World Cross Country Championships, hosted in South Africa. The spectators who gathered on the University of Stellenbosch sports grounds on 23 March were treated to something spectacular as the best middle distance athletes in the world had gathered, including names such as Paul Tergat, eventually a six-time World Cross Country Champion, as well as Haile Gebrselassie, Paul Koech, Ismail Kirui, Khalid Skah and Salah Hissou. But when the gun went off, Shadrack was in the mix of it, right up front. He was brimming with confidence and says he had huge ambitions. “I felt I was in such good shape, and I wanted to win.”