The 51-year-old grandmother from Tshiawelo ran her first Comrades in 1992.

In that year she ran with her husband Billy and they were the only black couple to compete in the race.

Matjeke, who is a member of the Rand Athletic Club, obtained her Comrades green number on her 10th year of running in the race.

She ended with a category sixth spot finish and as the 308th overall female runner.

She describes her experience over the past two decades as interesting.

"I knew there were going to be a lot of pain in each Comrades. The down run is very painful and the up run makes me very tired - but all of them require hard preparation," she said.

In her previous 19 races Matjeke managed to complete all but one race in 2006. She ran with an injury she suffered after twisting her ankle in a 10km race before the Comrades.

She has received 16 bronze medals, with her best time coming in 2003 when she clocked a time of 9:35:22.

The mother of two and grandmother of two is dedicating this year's race to her family.

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Wed Jun 19 10:19:04 SAST 2013 ::

Jun 1, 2012

MamaNeo

I know this beautiful woman. I've ran with her several races and she is just too awesome for words!
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Jun 1, 2012

busilicious

oh Tintswalo is the best, we always meet on the road or at the races, she's just like my mom, see you at the exhibition today, i will be running the comrades with my mom.
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Jun 1, 2012

MamaNeo

I ran Tough One with her last year.
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