The Christian Race — Keith Daniel

Father, we just thank Thee for this lovely hymn that we could pray from the depth of our hearts. And we pray, Lord, Thou would answer that prayer. In all of our lives, we praise Thee, Lord, that this morning we can bow before Thee while millions and millions and millions would serve the powers of darkness.

We bow before God, we separate our lives from this world to be with God's people and to bow before the living God and worship Him and serve Him and seek what He is enabling to be able to go back into that world and walk in light and holiness.

So God, we ask Thee to bless this time. Come and minister to us in mercy by the Holy Spirit through Thy Word. In Jesus Christ's name, Amen. There's two portions of scripture that have come in my heart this morning.

Running the Christian Race With Patience

The one you all know very well. In Hebrews 12, verse 1,. Wherefore, seeing we also are compassed about, we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, and because of that, let us lay aside every weight and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience.

I like that word, not just run, with patience, the race, the race that is set before us. And then 1 Peter, chapter 5, a book I love to preach on. I hope one day I'll be able to preach on these books to you that have burned in my heart.

I just love all these letters in the New Testament, and to bring them as they stand. But 1 Peter 5, The elders which are among you I exhort, who am also an elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, and also a partaker of the glory that shall be revealed, feed the flock.

He's speaking to the elders here, feed the flock. The Amplified says, tend, nurture, guard, guide, and protect the fold, the flock God has given. That is the younger generation and your responsibility.

So elders, feed the flock which are among you, taking the oversight thereof, not by constraint, but willingly, not for futile lucre, but of a ready mind, neither as being lords over God's heritage, but being ensembles of the flock, being ensembles to the flock.

When the chief shepherd shall appear, ye shall receive a crown of glory that fadeth not away, you elders. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder, submit yourselves unto the elder. May all of you be subject one to another, be clothed with humility, for God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble.

Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time, somewhere along the road, when you're ready for it. Likewise, ye younger, submit yourselves to the elder, submit yourselves to the elder.

And so we have this verse again that I just want to bring briefly. Let us run with patience the race that is set before us. Looking to Jesus, I love that. Looking to Jesus, the author, the finisher, the one who started it, the one who will finish it, of our faith.

Looking to Jesus when you're running with patience this race that is set before you by God to run, and he says, you run for me. Looking to Jesus as you run, in case you grow weary, in case you grow confused about how to run, looking to Jesus all the way along, running for Jesus.

Running for Jesus Rather Than for Ourselves

I was telling you about my sons last night, three sons that God gave me. We wanted daughters too, it wasn't God's will. We wouldn't change these three for a million daughters, now that we've got them.

Oh, we love them. There's Noel, and Roy, and then along came the surprise, what we call a lat-lamachie. In the Afrikaans in South Africa, that means a late little lamb, the flock. He just came along, this little last addition to the family, and what a joy he's been, little Samuel.

He's in the meeting, by the way, somewhere with his mummy. Well, Samuel is the joy of our home. I hope you don't mind me saying that in front of him. I do say it to him, you know, he doesn't seem to really know what I'm saying, but he is.

To his brothers, and his mummy, and to me. Samuel went to a preschool back in Cape Town. There's this particular preschool that if you can get into, you're so fortunate. It has something of a tremendous foundation for little boys and girls.

And it's before schooling, but they take things seriously in this preschool. You'd think it was a university sometimes. My word, everything is so incredibly earnest in that preschool, before they were even reaching school.

Samuel just loved to go to. He loved, he was off with his little, wanted to be like his brothers, you know, with statues and school cases. I want a statue. Anyway, at preschool, this particular preschool, very exclusive little school, even have a sports day.

So earnest that you'd think it was one of the real high schools, inter-schools. There were all the children sitting along with all the ribbons and the flags, and down the field. And all these little fellows, little girls, little boys, all sitting down in their classes with their teacher.

They're all cordoned off. All the mummies and daddies all crowded around the field. And, of course, some of these little fellows and girls, they were so small, they didn't quite know whether they're running the right direction.

One was running the wrong direction. But they still cheered him. Anyway, then came the mummies race. That was quite something for Jenny to run in. But she had to. And then the closing race, the final big event, the climax of the whole day, after all the screaming, the applauding, all the excitement was the daddies race.

And that was something, because this was my little art lummocky, my little baby. I had big boys. Now, all the other men, this was their first little, they were younger fellows, you know, all these young men.

They just had these young babies. I had big boys. This was our little last one. I was much older than them. And I felt it. And I tried to get out of it. I reluctantly, I said, Jenny, I can't, please, I'm not up to it today.

And I looked at these young fellows, how am I going to run against these fellows? And Jenny says, you can't not run. Look at Samuel. There's Samuel. Come on, daddy. Run for me. Come, daddy. You're going to win.

Win, daddy. Oh, so I went and stood there, and I saw these young fellows who looked like they all spent their day in the gym. There they were getting ready, getting their breath, you know. I thought, oh, my word.

What am I going to do? And I looked over again at Samuel and all the children screaming for their daddies. And Samuel caught my eye, and he said, win, daddy. So I looked at him, and I thought in my heart, oh, God, wouldn't it be wonderful if I did win for Samuel?

Just for Samuel. Look at him. Oh, my, there he's expecting me to win. And he's watching me now. Well, they told us some ridiculous things about this race. You couldn't believe it wasn't just running. It was push-ups and all sorts of things that you had to do once you ran over there.

Push-ups, on your face, all back and this sort of things. All these incredible, these days, you know, when we were younger, it was just a race. These days, you've got to be able to swim and ride bicycles and everything to run in a race.

They had some sort of idea incorporating a lot of things to win. So I listened carefully, and I looked over again at Samuel, and bang, the gun went. And I just ran. Oh, I poured myself as I ran against the wind, did all these silly things, ran back, and all the push-ups.

And I stood up, and I looked around, and there was no one there. And I thought, what have I done wrong? And I looked across the field, and there they were all running still. And some fellow caught up, and he started.

And I looked at him. He was trying to get two push-ups. He didn't quite get past two. And I thought, oh, my word. And I looked at the principal, and I looked at the teacher, Samuel's teacher, who was standing right by.

I said, what have I left out? What have I done wrong? What am I doing wrong? And his teacher said, you've won. Don't worry. You've won. Oh. Well, you know, the first thing I did, there was no applause.

There was just like this stunned silence all around. The first thing I did was look for Samuel. And there he was. All he knew is that he had won. And I ran over to him. You know, I didn't look at the crowd.

I didn't want the crowd. I didn't think of it. I just thought of Samuel. And I looked at the joy in that little boy's face. He was just overwhelmed. And he just, you won. And I said, Daddy ran for you.

I ran just for you. You know, then the crowd started applauding. And there was something different about the way they applauded. Because they saw who I'd run for. Why I'd run like that. They realized it was something of a consciousness suddenly of the joy that it had brought Samuel.

And that's all I wanted, to see his face, to see his joy the way I ran. The way they applauded, it was something so different. It's so different when you run out of love for someone else. And when you're running just for yourself, you know.

You run so differently. There's something so totally different. Everyone's aware of it. Everyone's aware of it. Especially the one you ran for. The joy it gave him when he knows it was for him. I hope you're running this race for Jesus.

I hope it's giving him joy. You're not running for yourself just because you're right here amongst the runners. I hope it's not a heavy thing for you to run. In this race that's set before you. You run with one purpose, one intent.

Oh, I didn't look at the crowd. I didn't look at any other face. When I knew I'd won, I'd look for one face. One face, the one I'd run for. To see what it meant to him. To see his smile. That's all you're running for.

Looking on to Jesus. The one who set you out in this race. Looking on to Jesus. The author and finisher of the faith. Well, I was at school. I loved to run. I loved sport. Every sport. Jenny was the same.

She was in everything, you know. Nothing that she wanted to miss. Every sport there was, she arrived. And I loved sport, too. Oh, especially athletics. And it was always the two of us, right from boarding, right through schooling, that were the fastest runners in the school.

And I used to know this fellow, boy, I'm running against him. Sometimes I beat him. Sometimes he beat me. But it was always the two of us. We ran, knowing it was just the two of us you had to run against, yeah?

We respected each other. We didn't come much nearer than each other than that, right through schooling. But suddenly, at high school, this fellow and I had to run together. Now, that's different. In a relay race.

Passing the Baton to the Next Generation

Now, a relay race is where you run as a team. And our high school decided that they would put the fastest runners. Of course, they choose all the fastest runners. And there were about four or five of us who had to run, representing the school in the interschools.

Sport, athletics day, where they come from all over the country, the best runners. And all the, those who could get to the stadium, pulling thousands and thousands from all over to just cheer on their school.

In the event, they were chosen, having been selected, running against all the different schools now to run the best. And here we were, selected. And this fellow was going to run just before me. And the other faster runners, but he was the one second last to run with a baton.

And we had to place the baton in each other's hands, the next runner. I was to be the last runner. The one who would take the baton to the finishing line. And we learned a lot of things about this relay race.

You don't wait until the baton's in your hand, you start running before it's in your hand. You build up speed, and he's got to put that baton in your hand. Carefully, you pass the baton on. The one who has to run now, the last lap.

And you don't look back while he's going to pass it on. You just run. He's got to put it in your hand. You're running as he's putting it in your hand. Where are we so trained? Now, I don't know what happened that day, but they realized the record, the South African record, was going to be smashed, beyond all belief, by this little school of mine.

They excelled. And I was the last one, and I realized something wonderful was happening here. There was just cheering, screaming from everybody by this time, not only our school. And this fellow comes along, and I was running, waiting for the baton.

But I don't know what happened to him. I never, ever asked him. Something made him not put the baton carefully in my hand. Something made him throw the baton. He just threw it. I didn't wonder what was going on, and I turned back, he threw it.

And the baton went right past me, fell on the ground, bounced up, bouncing right off the field. You know, it so shook me. I fell. I fell. And somehow I got up off the ground in agony. Crowds just, there was this amazed cry of despair across the whole stadium at what happened.

The baton dropped. The winning team dropped the baton. By the time I got the baton, the other fellow had passed. Another school. And he ran, oh, he ran. I picked up the baton, I began to run. I was gaining ground and gaining ground and gaining ground.

But he went over the finish. You know, nobody cheered. Not one of the thousands cheered because the team that should have won lost. Because the last lap, the baton fell. The one who was to carry the baton the last lap, let me tell you the grief that caused.

In my school, there was a silence in our school. No one ever spoke to me about that. No one ever came and talked to me, not even my sports master. He wouldn't look at me for a long, long time. He just couldn't speak.

It was a grief. We lost when we should have won. One generation brings a standard to the next generation in the church. He carefully passes the doctrine, this uncompromised standard to the next generation.

The next generation takes it. And as they grow older, they hold it out to the next generation, the younger. Let me tell you something, in case you're not aware of it, you're running the last lap. Don't doubt it.

This is the last lap. The baton, the doctrine, the holiness standard has been held out to you. And you be careful now. We must be careful now, as elders. In our weariness, perhaps, and in the state of the world, not to just throw the baton and it falls.

We've got to put it so carefully into the hand of all the younger generation that have to run the last race, the last lap. We've got to place it so carefully, all the doctrine, the standard, so carefully.

You don't want to lose it. You don't want to lose the grip of it. You're running, but we've got to put it so in your hands. We've got to be careful not to do what so many missions, so many churches, so many movements across the world that held the standard right through.

And suddenly this generation, this generation, they've thrown it away. They dropped it to take up a more acceptable standard, a more acceptable message. We mustn't. Don't lose when you're running so ahead.

Be careful now. I want you to listen to these scriptures. But God held out. Look at the groan of the elder. Psalm 71, 17, O God, thou hast taught me from my youth, and hitherto have I declared thy wondrous works.

Now also when I'm old and gray-headed, O God, forsake me not, until I have sown thee and sown thy strength unto this generation, thy power to everyone that's to come. Oh, 2 Timothy 1, 13, Paul says, hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you have heard from me, the old Paul now talking to the young Timothy.

Hold fast and follow the pattern of wholesome and sound teaching which you heard from me, in all faith and love which are for us in Christ. Guard and keep with the greatest care the precious and excellently adapted truth which has been entrusted to you by me, Timothy.

O God, keep it with the greatest care the precious and excellently adapted truth which has been entrusted to you, the Amplified says. 2 Timothy 2, 2, the instructions you've heard from me along with many other witnesses, transmit and entrust, entrust as a deposit to reliable and faithful men who will be competent and qualified to teach others also.

We've got to entrust it as a deposit to reliable and faithful men who will keep that standard. That's what we're doing as elders. Oh, the old Paul cries out to the young Timothy, I have fought the good fight, Timothy.

I finished my race. I finished the race. I've kept firmly held the faith is laid up as victor's crown for me. But Timothy, I entrust this to you now. Keep it. Guard it. What have you learned of me? You've learned of me.

Oh, keep and guard. Remember them which have the rule over you. Hebrews 13, verse 7. The Amplified says, Remember your leaders and superiors in authority. Observe attentively and consider their manner of living.

The outcome of their well-spent lives. Imitate their faith. Their leaning on the entire human personality of God. Absolute confidence of His power and wisdom and goodness. Listen to what God says about the elders who pass the baton on to me.

I can give you names of men. When I say their names, I say it with reverence at the memory of their lives. Thank God for their example. But listen to there what God says. Psalm 92, verse 12 in the Amplified.

The uncompromisingly righteous shall flourish like a palm tree. They shall be long lived stately. Oh, that was them when I think of them. Upright, useful and fruitful. He shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon.

Majestic, stable, durable, incorruptible. They shall still bring forth fruit in all age. Verse 15, their living memorials to show the younger generation of the Lord's faithfulness to His promises. Living memorials, that's what the elders are.

To show the younger generation in their stateliness, their uprightness, their godliness, their uncompromisingly righteous life. Hebrews 13, 17, obey your spiritual leaders. Submit to them, continually recognizing their authority over you.

For they are constantly keeping watch over your soul and guarding your spiritual welfare as men who will have to render account of their trust to God. Do your part to let them do this with gladness and not with sighing and groaning for that would not be profitable to you either.

Hebrews 13, 17. Oh, now I want the elders to look carefully right now at the younger in the way that God looks at them. This is something very precious to me. The elders must be very careful to look at the younger in the way God looks at them, not in the human level.

We're going to make great mistakes in this race that God has set before them also. He chooses so differently from what we did, what we look for. You don't remember when we were boys choosing teams in the park and we were going to play our games.

It was a terrible thing to not be the real sporting type. They always chose the outwardly, the ones that were tough, you know. So one person was the team leader, the captain of whatever team we were going to play with his football.

The horrifying thing is you choose, oh, this one first. So the next fellow chooses that one. It's terrible when you're the last one chosen. You know, that's because you're not very sporting. You know, when Jesse was sent by God to choose the king, the person who God had chosen, he goes, sorry, Samuel, he goes to Jesse's family and he looks at all these strapping sons of Jesse and he says, this must be him.

Look at this. To lead Israel, to be the future leader, the king. This is who God surely has chosen. No, God says, not this one. Oh, the next one comes. This must be him. In the end, the one they overlooked even bring.

He says, is there no one else? Oh, yes, there's David. Bring him. Near God bypasses the outward what we would choose, these strapping, wonderful looking fellows with all their abilities. They could fight a soldier.

Here was a little fellow tending the sheep. He comes in and God says, this is him. God doesn't look on the outward as men do. This is the one I've chosen and this was the right one. We mustn't look on the outward.

Look, we see outwardly at the first happening. God's so different in choosing those who will now run to win. Who are going to be the ones who win. I remember my son, Roy. You've heard about Samuel now.

Roy, we had a problem with. He was so thin. He's not anymore, thank goodness. But he was so thin that we got into troubles. You can't believe how thin Roy was. I said, what on earth is wrong with him?

Just bones, you know, there was no flesh even. Hardly any flesh, just bones. And I said, what are we doing wrong? We try to feed him. We said, more, eat more. Well, the principal of the school even called and said, you know, the teacher's actually talking.

We're worried here. Do you feed this child? And Jenny was so embarrassed. She said, we really do feed him. Well, Jenny took him to the hospital one day. The nurse said, I don't know whether to report this.

You're neglecting this child. Jenny said, we're not. We took him to the doctor. The doctor said, listen, don't worry. He's healthy. That's all you've got to worry about. He's fine. Don't force him to eat now.

Well, he was really thin, poor little Roy. Some mop of hair, you know, white hair, with a couple of crowns. We didn't quite know what to do to keep it down. I used to have one crown, but he had crowns all over.

Look for Roy, just look for this white, pitch white hair and crowns. Poor little Roy. Oh, he really looked out of place in life. Even his poor principal kept a watchful eye over him, fearing he was so brittle.

One day, Roy stunned us. He had a cross country. Now, cross country is when you don't just run around a track. They really set quite a few kilometers. And of course, at school, they were going to have this cross country around a golf course, where it's very large golf courses in South Africa.

You just go on and on. We were all sitting up on the stands, all the teachers and all the parents all around in the cars, even sitting, looking at our children. There they all start running, hundreds of boys in the cross country.

And of course, Roy, of course, runs too. And he loved to talk. He wasn't too interested in his run, you know. There I watched him talking, just talking. Oh my. But he was running. And then eventually some, so we were all watching when suddenly he decided to run.

And he just saw this little fellow flying past everybody. Now I couldn't believe it. I said, is that Roy? And I saw as he just flying. But the way he floated, you know, it wasn't like he was floating.

I stood up and looked at this boy. The principal looked back at me. Good Roy. But he didn't win. He would have by miles if he had started like that. Well, the next day at the school, I was going to fetch them at the school.

And the sports master was coming toward me. Now, everything I had to speak about to teachers, et cetera, was pretty fearful when we had to speak about Roy at school. We didn't know what was going to be coming.

But this fellow came up. And you know, I almost felt something nice was going to be said about Roy by the sports master. So I looked at him coming toward me. And he said, Mr. Daniels, did you see the way Roy ran yesterday?

I said, yes. That surprised me. He said, you've got a world champion in your hands here. And I laughed. He said, oh, don't you laugh at me, sir. Don't you laugh at me. He said, I'm telling you something, sir.

Don't push him. You'll break him. He's not mature enough. Don't push him to break him now that we see something's there. Show all the patience. Be just confident. Don't criticize him. That's all he's wanting now.

He's got it. World champion. Runners are born. Look at the great runners in South Africa. They're all just thin fellows running along. Look at this fellow. He's a born runner. He's just a runner. That's all he is.

But don't push him now. We've got to just teach him carefully. Teach him how to run. Give him good start, good hints. When he's ready, when he's ready for it. He's ready by our training. He'll run to win.

And he's going to win. He's going to win. Now be careful how we look, elders, at the young ones that seem to put the spear in our hearts. What's going to become of this fellow spiritually? What hope is there for this fellow?

Look at him. God sees differently. And I tell you, in the long run, the ones that win in the spiritual race for Christ are the ones we didn't expect many times, most times. Forgive me for saying. The ones with all their gifts and talents to somehow disappear, many times, not always.

But the ones that we thought were helpless, hopeless, not going to make much, they just strolled ahead. Listen to what Paul cries out to the young Timothy. Let no man despise thy youth. Be thou an example to the believers.

Let no one despise or think less of you because of your young. Be an example, a pattern of the believers in speech, in conduct, in love, in faith, in purity. Till now, come, devote yourself to reading, to exhorting, preaching, to teaching, instilling doctrine in your heart.

Don't neglect the gift that's in you. You're young. That special enjoyment that's been given to you. Practice, cultivate, throw yourself wholly into the ministry you have so that your progress may eventually be seen by everyone.

The Amplified says what Paul was crying out to the young Timothy. Oh, we must be careful in our dealing with the runner God has chosen. If they fail at first, if they even cause disaster, if they fall badly, God says something wonderful here.

Restoring Those Who Fall

He that is spiritual, I love that word. You that are spiritual, you'll soon see who's spiritual when you see who falls. Those that are not spiritual will condemn him, will wipe his hands of him, will not give him a chance.

Those that are spiritual will fight for him. They see just the hope. They see what will come. You can notice a spiritual man by what happens when someone falls. The carnal will judge him and wipe his hands of him and want him out.

Don't you doubt that. I was once at the Bible school, theological seminar where I went. We had a day we combined with another theological seminar. Very high standard, this place also in Cape Town. These two Bible schools have been gone on for a hundred years.

They've trained thousands of the best workers, the greatest of workers on the mission field across our continent. Oh, they revered these two Bible colleges. And we have once a term coming together and having a time of fellowship, time of fun also, laughter.

We're young. Laughing is in sin when you're young. Don't be old before your time, okay? So long as it's sanctified laughter. It doesn't grieve God or man. There's a thin line. And if you're right with God, you'll never grieve anyone or hurt anybody.

No fool is jesting. There's something about laughter. There's something about youth. Don't lose. But we had laughter. And we had little games. Two colleges together in the hall. We put socks together and bash this thing around.

Get it to the other side. Lots of laughter. These grown-up young fellows, 18, 19, 20, 21. You know, we were all playing against the other Bible college. And while we were playing and running around, we got a bit rough sometimes.

And there's one girl who was at Bible college with us, training to be a missionary. She fell. She somehow fell, but she fell so hard. It was just a gasp in silence. Right onto her face. And I stood there.

And I looked. And I looked suddenly, within a second, the reaction of every single person in that room. They all reacted differently when someone fell. You can't believe some of the reactions. There was some there that obviously didn't have much time for her.

They started laughing. Ah! So she lay in agony. Some shaking their heads, clicking their tongues. The Bible school thing, when someone falls, because you don't have much time for them. Clicking your tongue, shaking your head when someone falls.

There was some standing there, shocked at the fall, but unable to help, incapable. Nothing in them that would help. Just look. They just look when someone falls. In shock. They don't do a thing. And when I saw this reaction, and I saw no one was going to do a thing but laugh, click their tongues and look, I ran.

And I lifted her up. I lifted her up. And I was the only one that had the privilege of seeing the gratitude in those eyes. She was more hurt than what people had seen. She was so embarrassed in the physical hurt.

Someone had lifted her up. And I said to her, I'm not going to let you go. So you can look me in the eyes and say, Oh good, I'm right. Are you all right? You're not going to fall. And you stand. I won't let you go.

Don't worry. And the gratitude in those eyes. The one that helped her up when she fell. No one else saw those eyes. No one else saw that gratitude. The week four, God said, Ye that are spiritual. Ye that are spiritual.

You go lift them up. Taking care of yourself. But you're the ones I look to to lift them up. Are you spiritual? When someone falls in the spiritual world. Ye that are spiritual. You'll be known by that, you know.

Be careful in this race when someone falls. When someone falls. The other way also. We must remember this, please. If we see someone who's been in the race a long time. Not just someone who's. The elders looking down.

Or those on the road looking down at someone falling. And the young and saying, Oh, no good here. Be careful. It works the other way too. And it's going to happen in your life. I guarantee you. It's going to happen in your church.

I guarantee you. I don't say it that I want it to happen. But I've seen something in all missions. In all movements. We see someone who's been in the race a long time fall. They're nearing the end of their race.

It's possible they can fall, you know. What do you do? Excommunicate them. Somehow. In the weariness of life. It happens that those who've ran the race for a long, long time. You must be careful. Not to judge.

Not to throw them out. But to encourage them to get up. Not to condemn them. It could happen to you. And what you do to others. I guarantee. This critique comes on you one day. So be careful. I've seen it.

There's a circle. I've seen it on people. I've watched them. How they've done it. I saw coming back on them. And everybody did just to them what they did. When it happened to others. Be careful. It could happen to you.

Someone in the race a long time fall. Don't you as young people. Even if they cause despair. Encourage them. With compassion. Not to give up. But to get up. The greatest race in South Africa. It's a world renowned race.

People, the best runners of the world go to South Africa for this race. Now it's become so esteemed across the world. It's called the Comrades Marathon. It's the most grueling race in Africa. There's no doubt of that.

One of the most grueling races in the world. When I was a boy, daddy took us to see this race. He knew all the runners. All my uncles were the race. Some of them won. We, as children, would be taken by daddy who loved to see this race.

Oh, he encouraged them. He drove alongside of them. Come on. It's not far. He watered out to them when they needed it. In the early days before all these points were set up. When everything became so professional.

There was daddy when we were boys. They were running. Well, we knew most of them. People coming in our homes of winners. Daddy loved the sport of running. I'll never forget this one year. How we were going along with daddy.

We used to go the whole way with the car. Get out of the car and run sometimes with them. Stand there cheering. But it was the finishing of this particular year that shocked me. It always ended in Pietermaritzburg or back to Durban.

Vice versa. Each year it changed. But in Pietermaritzburg from Durban. Some 70, 80 kilometers. Oh, sorry. Miles. Those days. Well, there was a big sports stadium. Where the crowd would all go at the end.

And there would be these ribbons. Making a passage. Around the field. Right down to the center. Where the winner would run. All the end of this race along the roads. All up the mountains. Down the hills.

Through the valleys. Up and down. Up and down. Until this gruesome. Almost mountain. Before you get up to Maritzburg. The city. Where it all ended. There we drove in. We were waiting. For the winner to run in.

And along he came. This strapping fellow. Robbenheimer. He ran. Like the wind. Right at the end. Where did this strength come after all those miles. It's unbelievable. That last strength. To run. He ran.

And the crowd cheered. And I cheered as a little boy. Looking at this fellow coming in until the ribbon was gone. And then the second last fellow came in. The one who was second. To win. Here he came in.

But this fellow was tired. He was ahead of others. There were. Oh a few thousand set off by the way. I think something like ten thousand start these days. Very few finish. But here was this fellow. The second to come in.