The 25-year-old, from Zimbabwe, finished third at the Stawell Gift last month representing the Albury-based Stable of Fury.

Hove admitted to nerves the first time he showed up for training at Alexandra Park but he needn't have worried.

"One reason people don't like coming overseas is the distance between them and their family," said the man who has travelled 11,000km from Harare to further his athletics career.

"You think there is no substitute for your family but I realised that siblings are not only blood. They say there is a friend who sticks closer than a brother and this is what the Stable of Fury has showed me.

"Home is not the place where you were born or the place where you grew up, home is where your family is and where your interests are.

"The Stable of Fury are no longer friends, they are family to me.

"I love Albury and I would love to make Australia my home."

Hove's initial tourist visa required him to leave the country after three months so he was put on a plane to Fiji for an overnight stay. But when he landed, things started to go wrong.

"I was detained at the airport," he revealed.

"I was a black man in Fiji, coming from Australia, holding a Zimbabwean passport, with not much money and going back the next day.

"I didn't even know which hotel I was going to stay in and they thought I was drug-smuggling."

Hove, after extensive questioning, was able to prove his credentials and returned to Australia as planned but still faced challenges. Working two jobs while training for Stawell, he tore a hamstring and then rolled an ankle to throw his plans off course.

"I don't recall a point where I trained more than four weeks without breaking down," Hove said.

"It's been one thing after another. Maybe it connects back to that lifestyle because the human body has its limits.

"My employers make it flexible for me but the challenge is trying to train at an elite level while doing two jobs. I leave home at 6am and get back at 9pm, sleeping maybe five hours after doing physical work all day."

But Hove, a committed Christian, has always fallen back on his faith in the tough times.

"Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me," he quoted from the book of Philippians.

"What keeps motivating me is the part about forgetting the past. Yes, I had financial challenges in Zimbabwe and I've had injuries here but am I sitting down, crying?

"I can't undo the past but I can change tomorrow. What keeps me going is where I think I can reach.

"I see a Munashe one day who is going to grab a couple of gold medals at the Olympics and break a world record. Each day I see myself getting closer to this future.

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"Also, I see a Munashe who is going to help other Munashes. There are so many kids in my situation, some worse than me, so one day when I make it - even if I'm not going to make it - all I want is to help someone make it.

"I can help them get to a place I didn't go."

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