While every athlete who participated in the Cape Town Marathon on Sunday 15 October was aiming for gold, Tsepiso Nzayo had his own mission.
The member of the Gugulethu Athletics Club left spectators with questions as he ran clutching a banner declaring “534 days sober. It’s a PB [Personal Best!!!]”.
For him the race was more about making a health statement to the public.
Nzayo ran the race of his life and completed it in 2:51:00.
In an interview with City Vision Nzayo confessed to alcoholism. In April last year he made a conscious decision to stop drinking.
He stated when he started running in 2017 he needed something to motivate him to stop drinking.
“At the time I was still in Eastern Cape. I was addicted to alcohol in a way that I lost myself. I didn’t know who I was anymore and was not working.”
In 2021, Nazayo’s life changed when he got a job at the Western Cape Education Department in Cape Town.
“When I arrived in Cape Town in August 2021 I was staying in Rondebosch. Just two months later I relocated to Ilitha Park in Khayelitsha, not because I was not happy where I stayed.
“I moved to Khayelitsha because I wanted to be closer to my friends and ‘ePakini’ (a social place in Khayelitsha).”
Nzayo said every weekend he would visit ePakini to drink with his friends. While there, there were instances where he would get drunk and leave his friends at ePakini and walk alone to his flat around midnight.
Nzayo said his ex-girlfriend used to shout at him for going about at night while drunk, and she would nag him to stop drinking.
He described alcohol as his coping mechanism.
The 39-year-old stand-up comic said he regretted the amount of money he had wasted on alcohol.
“At that time I had a lot of friends, which included men and women. I would spend a lot of money buying alcohol.
“Sometimes I would request an Uber to Long Street in Cape Town. I also put my life in danger as I would often drive while I was drunk.”
Although he was a heavy drinker Nzayo enjoyed running. He said it is hard to gain fitness but easy to lose it.
“Running is part of my lifestyle. Last year I made a decision to take a break just three months before the Comrades Marathon in Durban, KwaZulu Natal to focus on training. I took a break at the end of April and the marathon was in August.
“After the marathon I asked myself if I could manage to stay three months without drinking alcohol why can’t I just quit at once? Since then I have never looked back.”
Nzayo said he still goes to the tavern with his friends and buys them alcohol.
The father of one said since he stopped drinking his life was back to normal and he was able to save money.
He said he was contemplating relocating from Khayelitsha because what lured him to the area was now no more.
Nzayo stated there was no amount of motivation he could give to anyone to stop drinking; it depends very much on the individual in question.
He said his involvement in the marathon, this time, was partly to raising awareness among people of the dangers of drinking.
“Drinking alcohol is not a solution. Instead it wastes your money. Also, people must learn to speak out when they have a problem instead of guzzling alcohol.”