With a passion for the sport that he loves, and after many years of own achievements, management in cross-country and road running, organizing of cross-country and road racing events, coaching and managing of athletes and involvement in upliftment of disadvantaged athletes, this book is the culmination of fifty years of experience and knowledge being put on paper.
After listening to famous coach Arthur Lydiard who visited South Africa together with Olympic champion Peter Snell on 1 April 1964, Dewald the next day resigned as Rugby Club secretary and first team scrumhalf at Potchefstroom University to become a long distance athlete.
In 1966 Dewald finished second to de Villiers Lamprecht at the South African Universities Cross-Country Championships, while he also organized the SAU Championships as well as the South African Cross-Country Championships in Potchefstroom in 1966. He represented South Africa in Cross-Country against Rhodesia in 1967. He not only represented South Africa in cross-country, but also the South African Universities, Western Transvaal, Border, Southern Transvaal the Orange Free State, and Northern Transvaal in Cross Country, on the Track and in Road Running between 1964 and 1994. He competed in 72 South African Championship races and won the novice trophy in the Comrades Marathon in 1975.
He was involved on Provincial Management in Cross Country in Western Transvaal in 1965/66 and in Cross-Country and Road Running in Northern Transvaal between 1975 and 1994. He was Race Organiser for 11 years of, at that time, the biggest Standard Marathon in South Africa, namely the Hyper to Hyper Marathon in Pretoria. Before that he organized the Pretoria Marathon for 7 years. He is also a qualified Referee and was once a member of the Technical Committee of Athletics South Africa.
Dewald started his own RDP program (Reform and Development Program) round about 1988/89 in development and upliftment of black long distance runners, and for his efforts and achievements was presented with a special plague by the Pretoria Marathon Club, the golden Shoe Award by Runners World and the Reggie Walker Medal by Athletics South Africa.
He supported numerous athletes in terms of bursaries, work acquirement, accommodation, transport to races, entries to races, running shoes, coaching, managing, finding races abroad and airline tickets for races abroad. He produced numerous athletes that represented their Provinces as well as athletes from South Africa, Zimbabwe and Namibia that represented their Countries at the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, World Championships and other International Races. His athletes won numerous marathons all over the world, with the best performance maybe Helalia Johannes of Namibia who finished 12th in the 2012 London Olympic Marathon and Mike Fokoroni of Zimbabwe finishing 11th at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Marathon. He also managed official South African Teams to the Africa Marathon Championships and the Africa Half Marathon Championships in the Ivory Coast. He send athletes to 23 Countries in Africa, Europe and Asia winning 20 Marathon titles between 1994 and 2014 and by 2014 was still involved in taking teams of athletes from 9 different African Countries to the Pyongyang Marathon in North Korea for 10 successive years.