Category: Features

Having recently returned from a first European tour to race on the international triathlon circuit, 25-year-old Boksburg-based elite Lauren Dance sat down to answer a few questions on her love of the tri life. – BY SEAN FALCONER

MA: You took up triathlon at 18, with a background in swimming, athletics, lifesaving and biathlon. Was triathlon just the logical next step?
Lauren: I had always been active, so my parents got me involved in as many sports as possible to keep me busy and motivated. I was generally athletic and found I was pretty good at most sports, I loved being outdoors, and I was ultra competitive. When I was 17 going on 18 a family friend, Herman Steyn, who is involved in cycling, said I should give triathlon a try and organised me my first racing bicycle. I did my first tri with no training at all, and by luck met my current coach, Mike Moriarty, that day, but it was the hardest thing I had ever done, and I thought I will never do that to myself again. A few months later Mike contacted me and asked if I would like to give it a go, as he saw potential. I decided to try and turns out it was the best decision of my life… I found out what hard work and perseverance are, and what it’s like to have someone believe in you and test your limits every day. Triathlon is now my sole focus. It has grabbed my heart like nothing before.

MA: You won the junior category of your next race, at the old Energade Series. Did that light the fire in your belly to really give tri a go?
Lauren: That was the first proper tri I did after five months of coaching with Mike, and that lit a huge bonfire in my belly, as I started to see rewards for my hard work. I also realised how much more work I needed to do to be good, which was really motivating, because I was used to sport coming pretty easy for me, but this was hard. Mike was always very positive, so every training session and race he was always leading me to believe in my ability. Having a coach that is so passionate about what he does and believes in my big dreams is a real blessing, and makes the hard graft possible.

MA: What do you rate as the highlight of your tri career thus far? You were SA u23 Champ in 2011, and brought home a win in the junior section of the European Cup in Turkey, but what about more recent results?
Lauren: Wow, those results seem like a lifetime ago, but they are definitely highlights. When things get tough, I often think about those races to get me going again. Last year I came second in the African Championships in Zimbabwe, which is another highlight, and at the beginning of this year I had a really good race in Cape Town at the Africa Cup, coming second again, but I had made a few personal mini-breakthroughs that stand out for me.

MA: You’ve just returned from racing on the European Circuit. Tell us about the experience.
Lauren: I did a couple of ITU races and then a 5150 race. After my breakthrough race in February, I was in the best form of my life, mentally, physically and emotionally, and was planning a big season ahead. However, the day before SA Champs I went for a warm-up activation run and tripped over the pavement, twisted my ankle and tore a ligament in the process. The next few months proved the most testing, battling to stay fit, and I also struggled with bad bouts of flu and bronchitis. So this European tour was my first racing in five months and served as a big test for me. I was just super excited to be racing again, knowing that I was there for four weeks and would be able to work on my race fitness and training intensity.

The first race was a massive shock to the system, however, because the level of European racing is out of this world, but that motivated me to get back to decent training so that I would be at a competitive level by the time I got to race the Tiszauvjaros World Cup event. I was feeling ready for that, but the race turned out to be bitter-sweet. I had a decent swim to get me into a bike pack, then I worked hard on the bike and bridged the gap to the second pack and then also the lead pack, and for the first time in my tri career I was in the lead pack of an international race. However, a lack of experience cost me, because working much too hard on the bike in 36-degree heat proved fatal for my run. I watched the lead bunch of girls run away from me with no comeback in my body, and I ended the race unconscious in the medical tent with heat exhaustion. It was the best-worst race of my life, marking significant improvements and confirming belief in me, but inexperience ruining any chance of a lifetime best performance against some of the best athletes in the world.

MA: You’ve already represented SA at World Champs, African Champs, the All Africa Games and World Cup events. What does wearing national colours mean to you?
Lauren: Representing your country never loses its magic, and racing at the big events is both special and the most terrifying thing at the same time. I love that and crave that feeling.

MA: You studied sport psychology at the University of Johannesburg and are now busy with your Honours in sport science, but you’re also racing full-time. How do you fit it all in?
Lauren: I am extremely lucky that UJ supports me so much and has allowed me to finish my degree part-time, giving me enough time for training and racing while still passing, so I will still be finishing my studies next year. After that I will need to look at ways in which to pay for my tri dreams. At the moment I am fortunate to have some solid people and brands that are supporting me, allowing me to pursue my goals: M.A.D. Multisport, Schaldor Plastics, ASG Sport Solutions – Pinarello and Rudy Project, Irwin Wheelsets, and XTERRA Wetsuits.

MA: What about hopes and dreams – I would imagine the Olympics feature high on your bucket list?
Lauren: My aim is to be able to fulfil my potential, which will hopefully be good enough for an Olympic Games or two, as well as Commonwealth Games. I do, however, look forward to racing the longer distances, like 70.3, when I am ready to make the move up.

We took our #RunClean campaign to social media and were blown away by the response from runners… but we know this is just the first step in a very long battle to promote a cleaner sport and try to eradicate the litter problem in our races. – COMPILED BY SEAN FALCONER

We Support the Campaign!
Tanya Timms: Ooooh, litter pee's me off something chronic!
Jannie Visser: There are always bins provided, so why not use them? If we can make a small effort, it will make clean-up so much better for others…
Barbara Foot: It annoys me no end – apart from all the other litter in the country that drives me insane!
Linda Doke: Plastic is toxic, and the repercussions of the damage it causes ripple through the food chain.
Peter Swanepoel: The number of times I have seen runners purposely aim to throw a sachet into a drain is beyond ridiculous!
Lisa De Speville: There is absolutely no good reason to litter at road races. Participation in a road race doesn't mean that you have permission to be a litter-bug. Good one, Modern Athlete!

We #RunClean already
Demitri Baroutsos: Only three sides of my ASA number on the front are sewn, so it acts as a pocket. If I can't drop my sachet in a bin, I stick it in there and run with it till the end of the race – it's not like it's heavy or impeding my run in any way.
Rene Mitchell: It doesn't take much effort to carry your empty water bag to the next water point and toss it in their bins… that is what I always do. Just plain lazy tossing it on the road.
Johan Grassman: I simply carry all my rubbish with me in my licence number ‘pocket’ that is sewn onto my running vest.
Wayde Kennedy: Think I'll also commit to picking up at least one or two bits of litter/rubbish at every race I do…

Been there, cleaned that…
Denise Dippenaar: I have helped out at my club run at a water table many times. You will not believe how far we have to walk to retrieve sachets and other items runners have thrown willy-nilly into bushes, etc.
Francis Rogan: I have worked at water tables and I don't mind picking up litter around the table, but very annoying to do it past the water point just because someone couldn't be bothered to hold onto their sachet. I always say, “If you can carry it full then you can carry it empty.”

Lecturing the Litterbugs
Johan Grassman: Spoilt brats. If you want to drink the water, then you are responsible for disposing of your sachet properly. Littering on the road or next to it should never be acceptable, whether you are in a race or not. You want the privilege of waterpoints, then accept the responsibility that comes with it. Stop mollycoddling the litterbugs.
Ruth Cameron: As a technical official I have spoken to people many times. The bags are so light to carry with you. Some runners are just ridiculous!
Glynis Mauldon: While running the Easter 100 with my friends, we spoke to some runners for throwing sachets in the bushes, or down stormwater drains. Nine times out of 10 we were laughed at and told, “Someone will pick it up.” Time to fine runners, because I am sure they don't do this at home.
Janine Nagel: Runners/walkers and cyclists, you found a clean path, so keep it that way please.

Trail Runners (supposedly) do it better
Torrin Theron-Visser: If a trail runner can use a hydration pack or waist belt and not litter, then so can a roadrunner!
Sue-Ann Fourie: Trail runners aren't as innocent as they are made out to be – if they didn't run with their own supply, I guarantee you we'd see a similar problem on the trails. I picked up eight empty energy sachets on Sunday in a trail race… so I'll add the litterbugs to my list of reasons for coming in 11th from dead last.
Alexis Olds: Not all road runners litter and not all trail runners are clean, but I do think it's high time we change the water sachet/littering mentality at races.

Learn from Triathlon
Petro Neethling: Coming from a triathlon background, where we are DQ'd for littering outside of a non-litter zone, it has become second nature to keep the empty water sachet or fuel wrapper in my shirt pocket and only discard at bins provided.
Christelle van Rooyen: I've learnt from Ironman to stash my trash. If you so much as throw away a banana peel and get caught, you get DQed.

The Pessimists…
Andries Kroese: Haha, can't see the front speed freaks cleaning up, but I certainly support the idea. It’s just too messy.
Tiaan Conradie: I just don't get it, why do we need a campaign to remind runners not to litter? How hard is it to either drop your sachet at the water table itself or put it in your pocket until you get to the next table or a bin?
Tracey McKay: This is excellent, but good luck trying to get runners to actually do it! We have a culture now of littering!

Cleaning Crews, Please
Tanya Timms: I think the point of the story is for the runners to be more pro-active in this approach and not give the organisers back-breaking work that is not necessary.
Natelie Kriel: I think runners just assume that the route will be cleared by the organisers/waterpoint stations – that if you are paying to run a race, you would assume that your fees would go towards cleaning. As a fun run organiser, we hire cleaners to walk the route during and after the race, and then re-ride the route to double-check it’s all clear. And by hiring cleaners (at a minimal cost), it really does help job creation, too.
Luzuko Ntissa: As much as I expect race organisers, with the entry fee, to hires cleaners, as runners we must still do our bit.

Useful suggestions
Margi Eksteen: Let runners carry their own water at races… problem solved!
Val Opperman: #RunClean is a great initiative, but if I could just suggest that the dustbins be spaced out a bit more AFTER the tables, not at the table, or like the one marathon I did, BEFORE the tables
At Schoeman: Clubs should announce it at all road races!
Gillian Grobbelaar: I have seen a bin idea that they use up in Johannesburg that had a sail type of backing to it, so the idea was that you throw your rubbish at the sail and it slips into the bin. Was easier to get the rubbish into the bin, and created a novel idea that everybody wanted to try out, and thus less litter.
Armandt Van Den Berg: A bin at each kilometre marker would help loads. A lot of people carry water sachets with them and take a sip on every kay.
Sue-Ann Fourie: Peeps need to take a photo of their empty sachets on their coffee table when they get home.

We would love to hear from you about your efforts to #RunClean, so send your letters, photographs or ideas to [email protected].

And think before you throw – #RunClean!

The six-day 250km Marathon des Sables (MdS) in the Sahara Desert of southern Morocco is considered the toughest foot race in the world. Athletes must carry all their food and equipment, the heat can reach 50 degrees, sand gets into everything, blisters are par for the course, and just finishing is a major achievement. This year was the 30th edition, with the largest ever field of 1300 runners, and part of that field was the South African couple, Genis and Tanya Pieterse of Johannesburg, and after reading Genis’ epic five-part race blog, we decided to publish a few extracts here. – EDITED BY SEAN FALCONER

Pre-race: Excitement and Concern
Our journey to the MdS began in May 2014, when Tanya had already completed both Addo Elephant Trail Runs, the 44km in 2013, which we ran together as my final long run for the 2013 MdS, and the longer 76km in 2014. It had been great to see my angel’s progress from not being able to run around the block in mid-2012, but our journey also exposed her fear of heights, and our real concern, her diagnosed Neurological Pain Syndrome (also referred to as Complex Regional Pain Syndrome, or CRPS), which was only discovered after she fell in the 2013 Addo run. CRPS causes prolonged pain, swelling and inflammation, and in Tanya’s case it is triggered by high temperatures, direct sunlight, or placing any load on her neck or shoulders, and I knew that the MdS had all those conditions from 8am until 6pm for seven days in a row! After months of research and numerous discussions with physicians, a medical plan of action was established, which included medication to prevent Tanya’s CRPS from flaring up, and to manage it if it did.

Day 1: 36.2km
We settled into what would become routine for the race, every kilometre I would remind Tanya to drink and to eat, but her difficulty in swallowing, which had started the night before, seemed to persist. Over the next few days this would become a major source of concern, especially when she became nauseous at the end of day one due to the onset of menstruation. Between CP1 and CP2 we had the pleasure of spending some time with Sir Ranulph Fiennes, and seeing that we were from South Africa, he began singing O Die Donkie, an Afrikaans song he knew from when he went to school in South Africa. Everyone was finding the dunes a little difficult and I said, “Don’t worry, everything eventually comes to an end,” to which he replied, “That is not correct, the kindness of a good woman never does.” I will remember those words of wisdom for the rest of my life.

Day 2: 31.1km
This was the day that truly scared me. For the most part, Tanya’s fear of heights was under control, but today was going to be the acid test with three major jebels (mountains) to climb. The distance from the CP2 to the summit of Jebel El Otfal is only 2.1km, but it took nearly two hours to complete the 250m vertical ascent (the equivalent of an 80-story building). Little by little we ascended this massive mountain until we stood on the summit, and there was relief and urgency at the same time. That night eating was again a problem, with Tanya finding it difficult to swallow, and I was concerned when I realised how little she had drunk over two days.

Day 3: 36.7km
Tanya’s lack of hydration and nutritional intake was a real concern, and with having her period at the same time, additional strain would be placed on various vitamins and minerals which would compound the shortfall she already experienced due to CRPS. However, what we didn’t know at the time was that her B12 deficiency could cause hallucinations, vision problems, difficulty swallowing and some digestive problems, while her CRPS medication, under stressful circumstances, could cause difficulty with swallowing, blurred vision, and lower back or side pain combined with hallucinations. So without us knowing it, the stress of the event, Tanya’s health issues and the medicine we hoped would help her, combined to create a disaster of epic proportions, and it was racing our way at full speed.

Day 4/5: 91.7km
My beautiful wife was becoming increasingly concerned with the state of her hair, being convinced that there would be no way to get the knots out, and that cutting it all off would be the only solution. I assured her that once we were back at the hotel, I would wash, condition and blow dry her hear until all the knots were out. Then at about 46km, Tanya said that she can’t see that well, and later that night her vision deteriorated even further and she started to hallucinate, then a sandstorm hit us and she found it hard to keep her balance. At some point she fell, bumping her head, and by now she could see very little, Eventually we reached CP5 at 3am, which meant we had covered 63.3km, and had 17 hours left to cover the remaining 28.4km.

At 5am I helped her put on her shoes as her sight was now almost completely gone, and by 5:30am we were on our way. By 10am at CP6, Tanya was completely blind, very nauseous and had a severe pain in her groin area, so we decided that seeking medical assistance would be the best thing. Tanya was scared that the doctors would pull her from the race if she told them everything that was wrong, so it took some convincing, but eventually she agreed to see the doctors. Within minutes Tanya was hooked up to two units of fluids administered intravenously followed by a unit of glucose, but the pain in her groin became more acute. The medical team decided to administer morphine, and once it kicked in, the relief was obvious. Within 90 minutes of arriving at CP6, we were on our way again. Tanya still could not see, but at least she could swallow again and the pain was manageable. Near the finish it became apparent that news of Tanya had reached the camp, but it wasn’t until we were about 500 metres from the end that it became clear how many people were waiting for her to cross the line.

Day 6: 42.2km
During the early hours of the morning a sandstorm of biblical proportions hit the bivouac and it took me ages to de-sand everything and to get Tanya and myself ready for the day. She was looking much better, and I knew that she would do whatever was needed to get to the end. As we approached the finish, our tent-mates brought us a South African flag so that we could cross the line with it. What a moment! I wiped away some tears which were the result of the overwhelming pride and happiness I felt for my angel, knowing that she had overcome so much just to be there, let alone finish the race.

Post-race: Relaxation and Relief
A very tired Tanya arrived at the hotel and I could see that my angel needed the bath and pampering I had been promising her. I helped her wash and condition her hair and used the hairdryer to dry it while I combed out all the knots, and to much relief for both of us, my angel’s fear of having to cut-off all her hair was soon forgotten…

To read the full story, go to www.push2extreme.com. The next big adventure for Genis and Tanya will be the 6633 Ultra in the Canadian Arctic Circle in March 2017.

Young sprinter Kyle Appel has already brought home a number of medals and records at youth level, and now big things are predicted for him someday in the senior ranks. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Do a Google search for Kyle Appel and you’ll come across a YouTube video of him in action, with the title: Kyle Appel – Fastest u/15 Boy Alive 2013. In the footage, you see him winning 100m and 200m events at a local meet in Cape Town and finishing a good 20 or 30 metres clear of the rest of the field! Now the title of that video may contain some ‘poetic licence’ – it was posted by a self-confessed fan – but there is no denying that this 17-year-old from Bellville in the Cape is seriously fast!

In fact, Kyle can now claim to be the fastest SA and African 200m youth sprinter of all time, having clocked 20.57 seconds to break Gift Leotlela’s SA record by 0.06 seconds as he claimed the silver medal at the IAAF World Youth Champs in Cali, Columbia in July. (Youth competition is reserved for athletes aged 17 or under.) Earlier in the competition he was unfortunately disqualified from the 100m semi-final round after false-starting, but he made up for that with his second-place finish in the 200m, and in the process climbed to eighth on the all-time word youth list for the event.

This latest medal is a step up after his bronze in the 200m at the All Africa Youth Games in Botswana in May, where he clocked a then PB of 21.07, which in turn followed a gold medal at the Region 5 African Games in Zimbabwe last December, but Kyle says the Cali medal is definitely the highlight. “It was my first World Champs, so it was that much more special. Now I hope to do even better at the Commonwealth Youth Games in Samoa in September, and then the World Junior Champs in Russia next year.” (Junior competition is reserved for athletes aged under 20.)

One for the Future
Unsurprisingly, big things are expected from the grade 11 pupil at Brackenfell High School, who is coached by Marcel Otto and boasts a 100m PB of 10.52 seconds. He is being touted not only as a potential medallist at the World Juniors, but long-term as a senior at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. For now, however, he is just trying to fit in his sport and his academics. “It is tough, because my school work is falling behind from touring a lot, so I’m trying to catch up with my classmates. My friends help me a lot, and the teachers do understand and also try to help.”

Kyle says he also enjoys great support from his family: “My parents have put a lot of time, effort and money into my athletics, and made a lot of sacrifices. They’re my biggest supporters, along with my small brother Cody. He’s only seven, but he trains with me every day, and I think he could be the next rising star.” His other big supporter is girlfriend Alice Adeolu, also an athlete. “She trains with me, helps to motivate me, and is always there to push me.”

Inspired by Success
Naturally, Kyle is excited about the recent spate of records and podium positions by his fellow South African sprinters. “I think SA athletics is going so well. I’ve been watching the local guys and I’m so proud of them, especially Wayde van Niekerk and his sub-20 for 200m. When he was younger he did 100s, so he has the speed to run under 20, and like him, I may move up to the 400m in the future. I raced a few 400s earlier this year, and also ran the anchor leg for our 4x400m relay team at the World Youth Champs, where we came second in the final. We were lying sixth when I took the baton and I pulled us up to second, but I found the distance a bit tiring and I’m not planning to do it again any time soon.”

He says he has not yet made up his mind what he wants to do after school, and will only decide after next year’s SA Champs. “I could turn pro after school, as I have already qualified for the European circuit, and from next year I am planning to run international meetings. My goal is to run a sub-10 for 100m, then move up and focus on 200m and 400m when I reach the senior ranks. And someday I hope to win an Olympic medal, hopefully in 2020, but right now I’m still too young to focus on Rio 2016.”

You’ll find him trundling along at the back of just about every trail run in the Cape, often with camera in hand and a big smile on his face, because Jacques Conradie absolutely loves his trail running, but not so very long ago he was considerably heavier and nowhere near fit enough to run a few metres, let alone trail ultras, and his remarkable journey to health and fitness is a story worth reading. – BY SEAN FALCONER

To say that Jacques Conradie (41) sticks out from the crowd is an understatement – he’s well over six feet tall and has a larger than life personality to go with his tallness. He also has a large figure, as he will be the first to admit. “I’ve never been a small person – even in school I was always the tallest, biggest guy around. I can’t remember a time that I’ve exactly been in good shape – the baby fat around the stomach has always seemed to hang around – and for that reason I tended to avoid photographs, always looking out of place next to the smaller, thinner people.”

He will also admit that he pretty much let himself go for many years, until November 2013, when he suffered yet another attack of gout in both legs, the worst he’d ever had. While bedridden, he says he did nothing but surf the Internet, and that was the start of a new journey to health and fitness. “Somehow I came across the Sleekgeek group on Facebook, and after spending days reading about all the transformations, I came across Ed Young’s story, which just resonated with me. I could identify with where he started and what he achieved, so there and then I decided that from the first of December 2013, I would start the Sleekgeek Reboot programme and get the shape and active life I’d never had. It seemed a daunting task, but my mind finally seemed to have found the point where it had had enough of my body and bad habits.”

Totally Inactive
Jacques says for years leading up to that moment, he had spent 90% of his day in front of a computer – he works in IT for the Forschini Group, and was a big fan of gaming – or lying on the couch watching TV. The rest of the time he was sleeping. “Very little physical activity or social interaction took place, I preferred solitude and my make-believe gaming worlds above socialising. And my diet at that stage consisted purely out of take-away meals – all family meal sizes for me alone – plus four litres of fizzy cooldrink a day!”

Overnight he cut out all the junk food and started ordering healthy meals from PaleoMonkey, and on the physical side, he took the proverbial plunge – by heading straight up Lion’s Head for a Sleekgeek group hike. “I threw myself into the deep-end with gusto, dragging my 191.4 kilograms up there, and while I only made it to the first ladder and back, I felt liberated.” The hike was just the start, and the following weekend Jacques did his first parkrun – although he refers to those first attempts at running as park crawls – and he hired a personal trainer to work with him at home, because he was still too embarrassed to be seen in a gym. But by the end of December he had already lost 13.2kg.

In January 2014 he did his first trail runs at the Spur Summer Trail Series and Dirtopia, and says he still remembers how excited he was to earn his first race medals. “I then decided that 2014 would be a year of participation – not competing, but participating, in every damn event I could find. I went for a medical check-up and they found nothing wrong with me, so I had no excuse not to throw myself into everything, and you know, I enjoyed every moment of it. During this whole process the Sleekgeek community were outstanding, as were the runners I began to meet at races! They were the cheerleaders that were missing in my previous attempts to lose weight. Failing was no longer an option, not with so many eyes upon my journey, and by the end of that second month, another 11.9kg had disappeared. I also finally conquered Lions Head on my second attempt.”

Quite the Socialite
Besides losing weight, Jacques began to undergo another big change. Having been totally reclusive for years, he now started to enjoy socialising with fellow athletes. At first it was mostly with fellow Sleekgeeks, but then with more and more other runners as well. “Every aspect of my life just became better, bit by bit. I had more energy, better sleep, more activities, and was meeting more diverse people. I think I may have gone a bit overboard on the Sleekgeek page with constant updates of my journey, but it seems that after years of hiding in the shadows, I had found a place to come out, and yes, I can talk a lot… but if that inspires just one person to do the same, it’s all worth it.”

Today, you will find Jacques lining up for just about every trail run he can find on the calendar, almost always with a camera in his hand, and his Facebook page is full of pics of himself in races, and hanging out with his many Sleekgeek and running friends. At the time of our interview in early August, he had already run 43 races for the year, and it would have been even more if not for an ankle injury in February that put him out of action for a few weeks (and caused him to miss 15 events), and which has recently caused a new niggles.

“I think I unconsciously compensate on the right leg to save the left ankle. Also, before the injury I used to be totally free on downhills – gravity was in my favour, so I didn’t really have a choice, I just had to run! Uphills, not so much… but now I am leaning back more on the downhills, not just going for it, which puts more strain on the leg. And because I just kept running instead of having it looked at immediately, I have been running with this niggle for the last month and a half. But you know us runners… unless we’re on our deathbed, we will ignore injuries. In my case, I think it is because of the gung-ho way I went into running. I’m just going out there to enjoy it.”

High Mileage Junkie
Despite the niggle, he is still clocking up the race mileage, and he says his original target of 100 races for the year is still a possibility, but will be harder now. “Racing is just so much fun. For me there is nothing better than getting out on a Saturday and a Sunday, in a different area or on a different mountain each time. It is just awesome. Keep in mind that I use the term racing very loosely here. I wouldn’t call what I do racing, except on the downhills, but it motivates you to get up, knowing you have a race to go do with awesome people.”

And when it comes to the races he chooses, they are almost always on trail, as he doesn’t enjoy the road runs nearly as much. “To be honest, I find the road boring, and it’s harder on the body, I did a couple of road runs last year and did another three earlier this year, but road running just doesn’t do it for me. Besides, it’s difficult not have fun on the trails, because the trail running community is very supportive, no matter where you run – even when the elites pass you on the way back to the finish and you haven’t reached halfway yet, they still greet you, and tell you well done.”

“I feel absolutely privileged to be part of this amazing community of Sleekgeeks and athletes. If it wasn’t for them, I would probably still be a hermit, playing computer games and living a life of solitude. This community has opened my eyes to the possibilities, and been the gateway to so many other amazing experiences that I would never have had. For example, I would never have dreamt I would do the Impi Challenge obstacle race – even if it was just the 6km ‘Dash,’ I still did it!

Weight Update
So, 21 months after he began his journey back to health, Jacques says he is now 50kg lighter and has lost many centimetres – and he can now buy triple XL T-shirts at Woolies that actually fit! “The weight-loss is going slow lately, but I am patient, because it took me 40 years to get where I was, so I can’t expect it to change overnight!” Besides weight-loss, his other goal is to kick his smoking habit, and he hopes to quit very soon. “Other people carbo-load before a race, I CO2-load,” he jokes. “I am actually cutting back at the moment and have tried to stop a couple of times, but it is tougher to stop smoking than it was to turn my whole life around, eat healthy and start running, to be honest. But I want to finish smoking before I run the Ultra-Trail Cape Town in October, because it does affect the running.”

Jacques is planning to run the 65km distance at the Ultra, which offers 100km and 20km options as well. He ran the short one last year and decided to step it up this year, but says his original target time was perhaps a little bit optimistic. “I planned to do it in 10 hours, until I looked at last year’s results and saw that would be put me in the top 20! So the aim now is just to finish it. That’s pretty much what I have been doing the last year and a half, anyway, just finishing races, and my aim was always just to avoid finishing last. I think that only happened at one race last year, and that’s because the people behind me took a shortcut! I don’t have the speed, but I have the endurance, and I can go and go and go.

Unsurprisingly, Jacques is often asked about his ongoing journey to health and fitness, and whether he has any advice for other people looking to start the same journey. “I always find that question very difficult to answer, because of the way I jumped into things, by just doing it. I tell people to do the same thing and just go for it. Yes, it will be difficult at times, and it is not a straight road, but I say just go out there and do it. And find a community to support you, as I found with the Sleekgeeks and runners. Everybody supports you, they have the same mentality, and it’s easy to do the right thing, eat the right food and do the exercise when you are surrounded by people doing the same thing. But most of all, believe in yourself, take that first step, and don’t worry whether you’ll finish a race, or whether you’ll be last. Just do it… for yourself, for your loved ones, and for a better quality of life.”

We’re calling on all runners to join our #RunClean campaign, because we feel very strongly about the litter problem in road running. It’s time to clean up our running act!

Here at Modern Athlete we have made it our mission to promote a cleaner sport and try to eradicate the litter problem in our races, by launching the Modern Athlete #RunClean campaign and continually reminding runners to think before they throw. Because we believe that every piece of plastic not dumped on the road is a step in the right direction, which will not only lead to less litter, but in the long run to less waste being produced by our sport.

What you can do to #RunClean
• Carry your own water in a hydration backpack or water bottle belt, so that you don’t need to use the sachets. (Some runners say it weighs them down, and thus slows them down, but trail runners seem able to run quite comfortably and quickly while carrying water, so surely road runners can also do so.)
• Don’t drop your sachets (or other refuse) in the road – always look for a bin, or carry your rubbish till you can throw it away, even if that is at the finish. It really won’t weigh you down that much, or cost you that much time to move a few metres towards a bin!
• Wear running kit with a pocket or pouch (or make one with your licence number) so you can carry rubbish to the next bin or the finish.
• If you do drop a sachet in the road, do so within easy distance of the water tables, in demarcated litter areas, not three kays up the road, so that the clean-up crew can quickly, easily and safely clean up.
• Never toss a sachet where it cannot be seen by the clean-up crew.
• On windy days, make doubly sure your litter is well disposed of in bins or rubbish bags.
• If you see fellow runners littering, try to diplomatically suggest a cleaner attitude going forwards, but avoid getting into an argument or confrontation.
• Make a point of being a cleaner runner by promoting a no littering rule, not only in your own behaviour, but also in your social media comments and interaction with fellow runners. Include #RunClean in your Tweets and Facebook posts.
• Volunteer to help clean up at a water table at an upcoming race. That should make you think twice about tossing your sachet next time…

Think before you throw – #RunClean

We would love to hear from you about your efforts to #RunClean, so send your letters, photographs or ideas to [email protected].

It began with “Luisa, we have great news for you,” the mail that informed me about my gap year placement in South Africa. So in August 2014 I came to Durbanville in the Cape and started to volunteer in a children’s home, and from the first day I enjoyed the time with the kids, but after a while I was looking for a physical challenge… – BY LOUISA ORTH

I missed the feeling of being absolutely exhausted after a rugby match or boxing session back in Germany. So I registered in the nearby gym, where I could be found on the treadmill. Starting with 2km, I was able to run 10km non-stop after two months, but after four months my improvement slowed down. I needed a goal to keep me motivated. That was when I met Jacques. He used to run the previous year, but lost it somehow, so we decided to meet for a short 5km run through town. We have run every week since, and then registered for parkrun, and eventually decided to train for a race, “just to try it out.” And so in November I finished the Edgemead 10km in a time of 57 minutes.

Hooked for life
From there my addiction grew. Just a few days after my first race I signed up for the Sanlam running club, and every weekend we are now participating in at least one race. Trail runs, road runs, orienteering… I tried everything, and half of my life is now about carbo-loading, speed training, magnesium and mindsets. It’s not just about finishing a race any more, because I am heading towards sub-44 for 10 kays, and in the 15km I have improved from 79 minutes in my first race to winning my age category prize in 71 minutes!

Now I am sure there was a reason why I got the project place in South Africa: To find my passion for running! It fulfils me incredibly to reach a goal that I have trained for, and to be part of a running community that shares the same ‘addiction’ is simply breathtaking. So even if I have to leave South Africa soon – with more running equipment and medals than anything else – I will never stop running!

Running the Comrades forwards is hard enough as it is for most runners, so just imagine how much harder it must be to run it backwards! But that is what Farai Sinomwe did this year, and it should go down as one of the most incredible Comrades runs of all time… and he did it to raise awareness of the plight of bees, because they are so important to all of us. – BY SEAN FALCONER

Just before the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon earlier this year, Farai Sinomwe of the Manoni Running Club in Johannesburg contacted the organisers in Cape Town to ask if he would be allowed to run the race backwards. Not the route in reverse, take note, but actually facing the wrong way. The reaction he got was “I never heard of such a thing. Why would anyone want to?” In fact, every time the Rastafarian beekeeper enters a race, he soon finds himself listening to all the usual jokes: “Most of the time I get ‘You’re going the wrong way,’ but I also get asked what I’ve been smoking! Still, people are supportive, and that helps to keep me going.”

With Oceans behind him – if you’ll excuse the pun – and having also run backwards in the Old Mutual Om Die Dam 50km ultra, Farai next set his sights on the Comrades, and finished in 11:41:31. Along the way he received an incredible reaction, from spectators and fellow runners alike. As Modern Athlete’s graphic designer Caroline Collings explains, “I had a wonderful chat with him when I caught up to him, since he was facing me the whole time, but it had taken me till past halfway just to catch him! What he did was just incredible.”

Inspired to go Back
It all started a few months ago when Farai was called out to collect a swarm of bees and was driving home in the early hours when his car broke down. “It was one o'clock in the morning and I was driving on a very dark Corlett Drive on the outskirts of Alexandra in my battered old Peugeot, with the bees buzzing angrily in the boot, when the car simply died. I realised I'd have to push the car to the top of the hill before I could coast the few kilometres back home, but I soon realised I wouldn’t make it pushing the car the normal way. So, I turned around, with my back to the boot, and found it far easier.”

Two hours later Farai made it home, transferred the bees to their new home and finally got to bed, but the next day he noticed something when he got out of bed. “My quads felt like they got the most amazing workout, and I realised that the bees had helped me discover a really useful training technique, so I decided to add some backwards running to my training.” That saw Farai enter a few 10km races as a backwards runner, and then he stepped up to 21km at the Pick n Pay Half Marathon. “I ran a 2:10 and had many people asking me questions, and that got me thinking about doing it for a good cause, so I decided that since I am a beekeeper, and the bees are in trouble right now, I would run backwards for the bees.”

All around the world, bee populations are in decline, due to a combination of insecticides, loss of habitat, disease and global warming, and this in turn threatens the very food sources that humans rely on. Nearly 85 percent of the world’s flowering plants depend upon pollinators like bees to reproduce, and this includes more than two-thirds of the world’s crop species of fruits, seeds and livestock feed. The bees are thus vital to the food chain, and people like Farai are helping to bring much-needed attention to their plight. “I decided to run races backwards to raise awareness about the importance of bees in the environment, and all funds I raise will be used to establish and manage new hives, as well as for creating training opportunities and jobs for new beekeepers, through my business, Blessed Bee Africa, which does bee removals and relocating in the city.”

Big C Backwards
So, with a backwards half marathon ticked off and a new cause to run for, the dreadlocked runner next moved on to the marathon mark at the Township Marathon, clocking in at 4:35, and then he ran the Om Die Dam 50km in 6:15 and Oceans in 6:10. Next he decided to run the Comrades backwards as well… Now, keep in mind that Farai already had four Comrades medals, with two 11-hour finishes in 2010 and 2011, but then came a Bill Rowan 8:03:20 in 2013 and a 7:06:26 finish last year for a silver medal, so this man can really run! Forwards, that is… but he gave up on another fast time to run for the bees this year.

“Physically it was a bit tough and my quads were burning at the end. Also, at some points there were too many people next to the road, so I had to turn around to see where I was going, because I was bumping into people, but soon as the road was clear again I turned around again. I was so impressed with the running community and spectators, for all their support, because it made me feel like I was doing something good. Even now, weeks after the race, I hear people asking about the backwards runner, whether I made it, and I want to thank them for all their support. I will be back for more backwards races, so people must look out for me and say hello.”

You can support Farai’s efforts to save the bees at Blessed Bee Africa on Facebook, or call him on 084 662 8761. He says he really needs help with transportation and building materials for hives, so any assistance will be much appreciated.

Sidenote #1: Benefits of Backwards
Various studies have shown that backward running can be hugely beneficial to athletes, including helping you maintain a more upright posture, improving balance, and lessening the impact on your knees due to a softer footfall. A study at Stellenbosch University even found that backwards running can burn more calories! Added to that, it promotes a better relationship between your muscles and helps them deliver more power, safely, say the experts.

However, developing the right technique is vital to avoid injury or accident. First, find a safe training venue, such as a park, beach or athletics track. Then it’s shoulders over your feet, arms held low and close to the body, and push off from the balls of your feet, trying not to lift them too high off the ground. Oh, and remember to look over your shoulder. Or better yet, take a training partner along to act as your guide, and if you both want to run backwards, take it in turns to be the guide.

Sidenote #2: Backwards Records
There is actually a recognised sport called Retrorunning or Reverse Running, and world records have been recorded from the 100m sprint all the way up to the marathon. At present the fastest time for the men’s backwards 100m is 13.6 seconds, run by German Roland Wegner in 2007. At the same meet in Horgau, German Isabella Wagner set the women’s record at 16.8s. The men’s marathon record of 3:42:41 was set by Germany’s Achim Aretz in 2010, while Kerstin Metzler-Mennenga of Liechtenstein holds the women’s marathon record thanks to her 4:42:39 effort in Rome in 2008.

There is also a South African connection here: On 12 October 2004 new world records for women in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay were all set on the Coetzenberg track in Stellenbosch by Riana Truter (100m – 20.3s), Marjorie Isaks (200m – 43.5s) and Marjorie, Deidré Gerstner, Ilse Gideons and Eloïze Fry in the relay (1:26.9s). By 2008 all of these records had been bettered by German athletes.

There are also recorded ultra distance runs, such as Plennie L. Wingo of the USA walking 13,000km backwards from Santa Monica in California to Istanbul in Turkey in 1931-1932. In slightly more recent times, Arvind Landya of India set the Trans-USA record for walking 5100km backwards from Los Angeles to New York in 107 days from August to December 1984. So Farai’s run from Durban to Pietermaritzburg is nowhere near being the longest backwards run ever recorded, but it is the first recorded Backwards Comrades, and he is thus in the record books.

Mostly known for its flu-fighting properties, Vitamin C can also pack a punch and influence your performance out on the road, as well as help you recover quicker. – BY ESMÉ MARÉ, R.D. AT CHRISTINE PETERS AND ASSOCIATES

Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant, which may help lower the risk for cancer by reducing free radicals and lipid oxidation in body tissues, and it is also involved in reactions that form collagen, a connective tissue protein. Added to that, vitamin C is also required for wound healing and is a water-soluble vitamin essential for normal growth and development. However, we cannot synthesise our own Vitamin C, and excessive amounts can easily be removed from the body through our urine, within 24 hours, rather than it being stored. This means that we need to consume Vitamin C on a regular basis.

Special Help for Athletes
Vitamin C has some distinct functions that can influence athletic performance, such as:
• Assisting in the synthesis of carnitine, which is important for energy metabolism.
• Assisting in the production of epinephrine and norepinephrine, which makes glucose available to your working muscles.
• Assisting in the transportation and absorption of non-heme iron (mainly from fruits and vegetables).
• Assisting in the resynthesis of Vitamin E to its active antioxidant state.
• For runners taking on the bigger distances, Vitamin C is a powerful antioxidant that limits the damage from oxidative stress that one undergoes during a long run or race.
• It plays an important role in the healing process by building protein, scar tissue, ligaments and blood vessels.
• Vitamin C also helps the body maintain bone tissue and cartilage.

Good Food Sources
Fresh fruits and vegetables have the highest vitamin C content while meats and dairy products are low in vitamin C, and cereal grains contain none (unless fortified). Fortified beverages and cereals are good sources. Vitamin C can easily be destroyed when exposed to heat (cooking) and oxygen (air) and can easily be removed from foods boiled in water and strained, as it is water-soluble. Methods of cooking less likely to compromise the vitamin C content of foods include steaming, microwaving and stir-frying.

Top Tips
• The recommended dietary allowance of vitamin C for men is 90mg/day and for females it is 75mg/day. (Smoking increases a person’s need for vitamin C, so smokers need an additional 35mg/day.)
• It is easy to meet the body’s requirement for vitamin C by eating the recommended amount of fruits and vegetables a day (five a day). Remember that a serving of vegetables is half a cup cooked or one cup raw, or one cup of vegetable juice. A serving of fruit is one medium fruit, a cup of chopped or canned fruit, or one cup of fruit juice.
• Have a fruit at breakfast or at each snack, or have some fruit juice before, during or after training. Include one or two portions of vegetables (including salads) at lunch and dinner. Remember, foods high in vitamin C also contain fibre and other vitamins, including A and K.
• Taking megadoses of vitamin C is not fatally harmful, but side-effects are common when exceeding a dosage of 2000mg/day for a prolonged period of time. These include nausea, diarrhoea, nosebleeds and abdominal cramps.

Fruits and Vegetables High in Vitamin C
Sweet red pepper, raw, 1 cup – 283mg
Sweet green pepper, raw, 1 cup – 120mg
Hot chili peppers, raw, 1 pepper – 109m
Broccoli, cooked, 1 cup – 101mg
Brussel sprouts, cooked, 1 cup – 97mg
Kale, cooked, 1 cup – 80mg
Peas, boiled, 1 cup – 77mg
Tomato paste, 1 cup – 57mg
Red cabbage, raw, 1 cup – 54mg
Potato, 1 large – 39mg
Tomato, 1 large – 32mg

Papaya, 1 large – 188mg
Orange juice, 1 cup – 124mg
Cranberry juice cocktail, 1 cup – 107mg
Strawberries, 1 cup – 98mg
Grapefruit juice, 1 cup – 94mg
Kiwi, 1 medium – 76mg
Mango, 1 large – 75mg
Pineapple, 1 cup – 74mg
Orange, 1 large – 70mg
Cantaloupe, 1 cup – 59mg

To say that South African sprinting is looking good right now would be one of the biggest understatements ever made in the history of track and field in this country, because so far this year we’ve seen the men’s 100m, 200m and 400m SA records fall and the women’s 100m record equalled, we’ve seen two more SA men join the elite sub-10-second club in the 100m, we’ve had two sprinters crowned World Champions, and we’ve seen Ilse Hayes become the fastest female Para-athlete of all time. The sprinters in SA are well and truly on fire at the moment! – BY SEAN FALCONER

Part 1: The Sub-10 Club

Up until just over a year ago, sprinting in South Africa appeared to be stuck under the same ceiling it had reached in the late 1980s. Johan Rossouw’s 100m record for men of 10.06 seconds had been on the record books since 1988, while Evette De Klerk’s women’s record of 11.06 had stood since 1990. Simon Magakwe did equal the men’s record in 2012, and Geraldine Pillay was just one hundredth of a second out in 2005 with her 11.07, but both marks still stood in 2014, like fortress walls defying a besieging army. Then everything changed.

Dipping under 10
On 12 April 2014, Simon Magakwe burst past not only the SA record, but also became just the 90th man in the world to go under the 10-second barrier, as he clocked 9.98 at the SA Champs meet in Pretoria! (In second place was Akani Simbine, who also dipped under the old record as he ran 10.02.) Unfortunately, Simon was banned for two years for a doping-related violation in December 2014, leaving a cloud of suspicion hanging over his sub-10 performance, but happily that is now no longer of much concern, thanks to the scintillating performances of Akani and Henricho Bruintjies in recent weeks.

On 1 July Akani clocked 9.99 as he won the 100m in the European Athletics Classics Meeting in Slovenia (with Henricho finishing second in 10.15), thus giving SA its second sub-10, and the first not only at sea-level, where times are traditionally a little slower than at altitude, but also in an international race. “I must admit that I was pleasantly surprised when I saw the time I had run, but with a good start it was easy for me to put the rest of my race together,” he said shortly after the run. “To run 9.99 seconds in a ‘minus headwind’ is very special, but it was more a relief that I was able to get this out of the way. I said I was going to run nine seconds in Europe and I fulfilled my promise. And in the right conditions, against the right competitors, there is no reason why I won’t be able to do so again.” How true that would turn out to be…

The record goes… and goes again
The proverbial dust had barely settled on Akani’s PB before Henricho also joined the sub-10 club four days later at the Resisprint International meeting in Switzerland, with an incredible 9.97 to take the SA record and become our third sub-10 sprinter, in spite of a bad start. “The first 30 metres were bad, but then I caught the guys and just ran away from them,” says Henricho. “When I saw the time I was just running around and screaming. It was a really great moment! Then I phoned my sister back home to tell my mom that I had broken the 10-second barrier.”

And then the unbelievable happened just five days later as Akani won the 100m final at the World Student Games in Gwangju, South Korea on 10 July, equalling Henrichos time with another 9.97, having won the semi-final in 10.00 seconds. Once again quite understated after a scintillating performance, he simply said, “I am very happy with my run. I never thought about running a fast time, it was more important for me to win the gold medal, so I concentrated on getting through my phases and to stay relaxed. At 60 metres I was able to relax a bit and just powered through.”

Friends, housemates and rivals
Interestingly, Akani and Henricho are both studying at the University of Pretoria and training at the High Performance Centre, but with different coaches, and they live in the same student house on campus. Off the track they are good friends and often support each other’s racing, but on the track the friendship is temporarily put away. “On the track it is each one for himself, and may the best man win,” says Henricho. “Afterwards we will play video games again. Normally, Akani beats me in that.”

While Henricho missed the Student Games due to a tight gluteal muscle, both will now focus on preparing for the World Champs in Beijing, China at the end of August, and then move on to the Rio Olympics next year. Besides hoping to do well individually, they should also be part of the SA 4x100m relay team, with big expectations on their shoulders. The SA record in this event stands at 38.35 seconds, which saw SA finish fourth at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, and which replaced the 38.47 mark that Team SA set in 2001 at the World Champs in Edmonton, Canada to claim the silver medal position. (We were later promoted to the gold medal position when the USA was stripped of the win due to one of its athletes being caught for doping). Just recently, the SA student relay team won bronze in South Korea at the Student Games with a 39.68 result, with Akani anchoring the team home, and with Henricho and Anaso Jobodwana (2012 Olympic 200m finalist who has run 10.13 this season as well as broken the SA record for 200m twice, clocking a best of 20.04) also in the mix for the full SA team, we could also see that SA record fall at last in Beijing, or Rio, hopefully with medals to go with the record.

Side Note: Leading sub-10 Nations
Jim Hines of the USA was the first athlete to break through the 10-second barrier for 100 metres in 1968, and thus far 106 athletes have broken 10 seconds. However, only 22 countries can lay claim to one of its athletes dipping under the 10-second barrier, and of those, only 11 have more than one sub-10 athlete. Thanks to Akani Simbine and Henricho Bruintjies, South Africa is now joint sixth on that list with three sub-10 sprinters.

1 United States 47
2 Jamaica 14
3 Nigeria 8
4 United Kingdom 6
5 Trinidad and Tobago 5
6 Canada 3
6 France 3
6 South Africa 3

Part 2: Carina equals Women’s 100 Record

South Africa’s sprint revolution continued in Madrid, Spain, on 11 July when Carina Horn sprinted to a time of 11.06 in the qualifying heat for the women’s 100 metres of the World Challenge Meeting, thus equalling Evette de Klerk’s 25-year-old South African record. She could ‘only’ manage a 11.10 in the final to clinch third place, citing tired legs for the slower time, but she was still ecstatic about her record-equalling heat, which is the fastest time run by a South African woman at sea level. “The conditions were ideal for the final, but unfortunately my legs were dead and I just could not get them to go faster. But I am looking forward to the rest of the season, and I think I still have a few good races left in my legs. I did not sleep a wink after I ran 11.06. Actually, I am still battling to believe that I have really done it!”

Carina started the revival of South African women’s sprinting last year when she ran times of 11.21 and 11.17 at European meetings. Then in recent weeks she clocked 11.19 and a (then) PB 11.16. Having moved to Linz, Austria to train with sprinting specialist coach Rainer Schopf, Carina has now seen her 100m PB plummet from 11.59 to 11.06, and she attributes this massive improvement to her training. “Rainer keeps emphasising that the 100m is a very technical race and he has me working on small technical details for hours on end to help me to become faster.” She has also focused on the indoor 60m event, to work on her explosive power, and earlier this season twice improved her own SA record, clocking 7.21 and then 7.20, so she could cause a surprise at next year’s World Indoor Champs.

Part 3: World Class, Wayde

In June Wayde van Niekerk showed that he was in fine form for the 2015 European season as he clocked 31.63 over the seldom-raced 300m distance at the IAAF Diamond League meeting in Birmingham in the UK, setting a new SA and African record. He then followed that with an SA record 44.24 in the New York Diamond League meet to finally beat the old SA record of 44.59, jointly held by Arnaud Malherbe (1999) and Hendrik Mokganyetsi (2000). And he wasn’t done yet…

Next, on 4 July, he became the first South African to dip under 44 seconds as he crossed the line in 43.96 at the Paris leg of the Diamond League, setting a new SA and African record, and handing Olympic and Commonwealth champion Kirani James of Grenada his first loss of the year. But Wayde was not done yet: On 14 July he became the first SA sprinter to di under 20 seconds for the 200m, clocking 19.94! (This beat Ansao Jobodwana’s still shiny new SA record of 20.04.)

The good news is that Wayde thinks he can go even faster. “It wasn’t easy, but I think I planned it well and really felt good in the last 200m. The first 200m was a bit relaxed, but that meant I saved a lot for the last 200m. I just feel there should be more, and there’s definitely still room for improvement. My goal this year is to continue pushing myself to improve, and because Kirani is the guy who inspires me, my victory was even more special. I hope this was the beginning of great things ahead for me.”

Part4: World Champion status

South Africa’s latest world champion is Justine Palframan after she powered to a personal best 51.27 to win the 400m women’s sprint at the World Student Games in Gwangju, South Korea on 10 July. “I felt really good in the race and all the training paid off, especially the work we put into my finishing. I stuck to the race plan and I got a personal best time out of it,” said the Stellenbosch-based Maties student after her big win.

When asked how it compared to her 200m/400m SA Senior Championships double title win earlier this year on her home track in Stellenbosch, she said, “This is definitely my highest achievement. Winning the double at the SA Seniors was a great feeling, but in comparison this is a world title, and it feels great to go into the history books of the Universiade as a gold medallist. And I think I can go quicker. I had a very successful championship, going through three rounds successfully and still being able to produce a personal best, so I have no doubt that I have the ability to go faster, especially with more opportunities at international level coming up soon.”

Part 5: Fastest Woman Ever!

Ilse Hayes became the world’s fastest female para-athlete of all time when she sprinted to victory at the IPC Athletics Grand Prix in Sao Paulo, Brazil, at the end of April. Clocking 11.89 seconds, she took 0.02 off the previous overall fastest mark run by China’s T12 world record holder Guohua Zhou. (Ilse competes in the T13 category, but often races T12s in mixed races.) At the same meet, she added the 200m title the next day in 24.70, then in June she did the 100/200 double at meets in Italy and Germany as well, continuing her fine form as she builds up to the IPC World Champs in Doha, Qatar in October.

“My aim was to break the 100m World Record at the World Champs, but I did it in Brazil already. Getting the record just motivated me to train even harder, because records are there to be broken, and there’s nothing stopping me from doing it again. I just want to train harder, and maybe do it at an even bigger event – like the World Champs or the Paralympic Games in Rio.”

Ilse won gold in the long jump and silver in the 100m at the London Paralympic Games in 2012, an exact repeat of her medal haul at the 2008 Beijing Paralympics, to go with the bronze she won in the 400m at the 2004 Athens Games. However, from 2012 to early 2014 she was plagued with various injuries and struggled to train consistently, until finding the right balance, which included withdrawing from the long jump to focus on the sprints. “I’ve put more focus on recovery, nutrition, and maintenance with the chiro – all things that have contributed to me being healthier, meaning I can give more on the track, which shows in my results.”

“I ran a PB at the 2014 SA Nationals, and after that came PB after PB, SA and African records, and now the World Record. The downside was not knowing I had broken it, but that’s one of the challenges of being visually impaired, and I couldn’t understand the Brazilian commentator, so I only heard later when I was at doping control. I’d like to go after the 200m World Record as well – it is 24.24 and I’m currently on a best of 24.27, but with stronger competition, working on the bend and getting my speed-endurance up, anything is possible.”