Image: Supplied

“I started running to escape poverty.” Anthony Timoteus opens a story far bigger than just sport. It is a story of survival, of hope, of heartbreak, and of finding light through pain.

Timoteus, an alumnus of the University of the Western Cape (UWC), will line up this Saturday, 24 May, to defend his title at the Fast & Flat 10km race - an event celebrating 30 years of championing local talent. This moment is deeply personal as he turns 30 on May 27. It's not just a race - it’s a full-circle moment for a man who refused to let his environment define him. 

“I come from a place where nothing good was expected of us. Gangsterism. Unemployment. Teenage pregnancy. It felt like a dead end,” he says, his voice cracking with emotion. “But I knew I wanted more. I knew I had to run - not just to train, but to get out.” And he did.

Life slipped into an even darker place when, at the age of 17, he lost his father. Enter Glen Bentley, Manager: Support Services, UWC Sports Administration. Bentley had noticed just how special Timoteus was and knew he had to nurture the teenager’s gift. 

“I offered him a place to stay. I could see he was talented; he worked extremely hard in training, and his body needed proper food to recover and continue the next day,” Bentley recalled, holding back tears. “But Anthony said no. He told me, ‘I can’t eat nice food while my siblings are still going to bed hungry.’ That’s the kind of heart he has.”

Then one night, Bentley’s late wife, Fiona, stirred him from sleep. “Glen,” she said, “gaan haal die kind (Fetch the child).” In the dead of night, Bentley drove down Stilwaney Street in Bellville South - and there Timoteus stood, waiting on the corner. 

“I still believe Anthony’s best is yet to come. He’s got a rare gift. I’ve seen very few athletes who can run negative splits like him. Running faster in the second half of a race is a special skill to have. That takes not only strength, but something more profound. Something mental. Something spiritual,” said the proud father figure.

The UWC graduate’s breakthrough came through education. After returning to complete Grade 12, he enrolled in UWC’s bridging programme - a two-year course few people knew about, but one that would change his life.

“That programme was the key. It was hidden, but UWC offered it. It unlocked my future.”

He passed. He went on to earn his undergraduate degree in Education in April. And while running was healing his soul, love quietly found him on the UWC track. He fell in love with his long-term friend, Geraldine. They’ve been married for three years and have a beautiful daughter - his pride and joy.

“I’ve built a life. I have a home. A wife. A child. And running gave me that. UWC gave me that.”

Timoteus with his wife, Geraldine Timoteus, and their daughter Leslie-Grace

In 2023, his body began to fail him, injuries crept in, and doubt whispered. “I wanted to give up,” he admitted. I asked the Lord, ‘Why give me this gift, only to take it away?” But prayer brought him peace. And somehow, without physiotherapy or medical intervention, he recovered.

A year later, he ran the Fast & Flat in a season’s best of 29 minutes and 27 seconds - an astonishing pace of under three minutes per kilometre - and won the race.

Now, he’s ready to do it again.

And he’s giving back. As a middle-distance coach for boys aged 14 to 19 at Stellenbosch High School, Timoteus invests in young athletes, sharing his techniques and his truth: “Your circumstances don’t define you”. He explained that talent alone is not enough; you have to want it.

Earlier this year, the athlete honoured the memory of the woman who raised him, his late grandmother, Aletha Muller, in a moving tribute published by the Cape Argus. She gave him everything she could, and more than he knew.

“When I graduated, I went back to my old street in my cap and gown and took a photo,” he said. “I wanted kids to see. To believe. To know that something good can come from here.”

As he prepares to defend his title this weekend, Timoteus knows he’s not just running for medals - he is running for the young boy waiting alone in the dark on Stilwaney Street.