BOB NORRIS
There is a young man running the streets, beaches and occasional off-road areas of Buffalo City whom some will have met, but many not. That is all likely to change in the months ahead.
Keaton Stansfeld is just 22 years old and works for Air Traffic and Navigation Services, while studying towards his air traffic control qualification.
It is something of a calling, given the precision it takes to be successful and the study that goes into it.
A son of Benoni, he said he expected to be based in Kugompo City for the next two-and-a-half years.
His running pedigree is governed by speed on the track, at cross-country and on the roads.
Stansfeld has shown his versatility at a handful of events, which he started running in the region in late 2025 and most recently took it up a gear by winning the Discovery Surfers Challenge over somewhere short of 18km over gravel, bush paths, rocks, soft sand, some tar, much more beach and the crossing of the Gonubie and Nahoon rivers.
The beach section from Eastward Ho at the exit of Gonubie to Nahoon Beach had been largely churned up by 1,234 runners who had raced that section in the shorter Gonubie to Nahoon race.
More than that, some were still running ahead of the main race and using the shortest possible route.
There had also been the 2km-plus stretch, out and back to Nahoon, in the roughly 5km run incorporating the Quinera Lagoon.
Stansfeld wisely chose to run as close to the water’s edge as possible to avoid the soft sand.
His dream, indeed goal and target, is to run the 5,000m track race at the Brisbane 2032 Olympic Games.
Despite all his enthusiasm, he believes the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics will be too close for him to reach his peak in athletic prowess.
Los Angeles hosted the 1984 Olympics, which was boycotted by the Soviet Union and a number of Soviet-aligned nations; nonetheless, it became one of the few truly profitable Olympic Games.
Few athletes will get to the Olympics without a seasoned coach, and Stansfeld is aligned with Jean Verster, who is a coach at North West University in Potchefstroom and is also the chair of the Athletics SA Track and Field Commission, so he is well-placed to challenge in the years ahead.
Verster was a top 3,000m and 5,000m runner who also performed with distinction on the road over 10-mile (about 16km) and 15km races, which is where Stansfeld is comfortable.
Stansfeld ran a 5,000m race at the BA Track and Field Championships in Komani a few weeks ago, but the programme was not ideal, running at 2pm in the heat of the day, whereas the 5,000m is mostly run as the first event.
His immediate target is the 5,000m race on April 17 at the SA Track and Field event in Stellenbosch.
Over and above the track race, he intends to race the Absa 10km on the road in Cape Town on May 10 and the same series in Durban on July 12.
A new Boxer 5km series is also being targeted, while a focus on cross-country lies ahead with possible races in the Border region as well as Nelson Mandela Bay.
An exciting year for all, including Stansfeld and athletic enthusiasts generally. — Daily Dispatch
