Dedicated athlete Brian Ntombela connects the dots between artists’ wellness and running

By Edward Tsumele, CITYLIFE/ARTS Editor

I first met athlete Biran Ntombela under very strange and peculiar circumstances. In fact, the room, a board room of the National Arts Council had an air of discomfort. It was occupied by angry artists who had occupied the offices of the arts grant making agency of the Department of Sport, Arts and Culture demanding accountability on how the agency managed funds for the creative and cultural sector under its management. I had gone there to write on the sit-in in 2000, as it were during the ravaging Covid-19 outbreak. It became clear that Ntombela alongside soprano and activist Sibongile Khumalo and actor Thami ka Mbongo were the defector leaders of the rebelling artists.

However, it was when the artists were out of the place in 202o that I got to know Ntombela as an athlete and not as an artist for I had assumed that having taken part in the occupation of the NAC, he was an artist.

“At that time, I and a group of athletes had just left camping outside the offices of the Gauteng Provincial Government’s department of Sport, Arts and Culture over the lack of support for our athletics club. But when we heard that other artists were going to camp at the NAC, instead we decided to join them for a united front,” Ntombela told CITYLIFE/ARTS in an interview.

But it is now history that the first of Ntombela was out there among other leaders of the toy-toying artists, including camping and sleeping over at the department of Sport, Arts and Culture offices in Pretoria where there was a skirmish between the artists and security forces guarding the premises

But once he was outside the NAC offices when a decision was made to stop the occupation, it is when I realized that in fact the athlete, who hails from Nkandla in KwaZulu-Natal is a committed athlete who has achieved quite notable feats on the athletics track, including having successfully completed Comrade Marathon, the gruelling annual marathon that is feared by many and is the ultimate internation marathon participated in by those who believe they have what it takes when it comes to running.

“I have founded an athletics club called Malvern Athletics Club, which has several dedicated members from around the country, who have chosen running as a wellness and lifestyle activity. Our members co-ordinate their training through an APP, that tracks when and how far one has run. It is a solid club whose membership is composed of both females and

males. We are also associated to official associations of athletics in the country,” Ntombela said.

Artists and athletics

The athlete believes that there is a relationship between art practice and running, artists and athletes, and that is exactly why he was at the NAC with other rebelling artists during that time.

“Running is about wellness. It is healing. Artists also need to look after their wellness. There is a lot of benefits for artists who find space to run as a wellness exercise and therefore we

encourage artists to run whenever they are not busy creating art. It is a way of meditating,”

Ntombela explained the connection between athletics and art.