Northerns juniors want to end cross-country season on a high

The Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC) junior runners started the CGA cross-country season in April brightly and are at peak fitness as the season reaches its conclusion.

Their season was characterised by consistency and nothing much has changed on the back end of this campaign, with only three league meetings left before the provincial championships on August 17.

The hard work of coaches Michael van Aswegen and Nkanyiso Mthembu behind the scenes has seen top runners Chelsea van Dyk and Siyanda Madlabane take their games to a different stratosphere.

Much like their magical run last year, which culminated in a national title for Van Dyk and silver for Madlabane, they have enjoyed the same level of success this season.

But they are not alone in skyrocketing the BNAC flag in this campaign. Bokamoso Nonyane and Zandrèh van der Merwe have burst onto the scene, joining Jade Doran, Alexia Visser, Kayla Botha and others in turning Northerns into a force.

The youngsters have made a name for themselves and have garnered fans all over the province because of their dominance and consistency in their age categories.

Mthembu’s athletes have featured in all the leagues so far, and in fact, after league four should have rested for the provincials.

There are questions about fatigue but the coach said he was working on plans to manage their schedule.

“We are running in league six in Westonaria on July 6. They performed well in Daveyton but during our debriefing session, some were not satisfied with their results and wanted to run in league six,” said Mthembu.

“Our captain also asked to run in Delta Park in league eight because she has never run there. I wanted them to take a break until the nationals but they asked to participate in some of the remaining leagues.

“We want gold medals in the U13 and U10 divisions at nationals. All we have to do is to manage the athletes and figure out how we are going to deal with fatigue for us to be ready for the nationals.”

Van Aswegen’s group started the season quietly, missing two league meetings because of a winter training camp in May and June, which was crucial in helping Van der Merwe, in particular.

“Zandrèh has been a work in progress over the past 12 months. He has immense talent but tends to sometimes come undone in the big pressure races,” said Van Aswegen.

He added, “We have focused on putting him in more pressure-type situations and helped him work through his races where things have not gone exactly to plan.”

Saturday (June 22) in league five in Daveyton was exactly the kind of pressure situation Van der Merwe needed.

He finished the U12 boys’ 3k race in second place in 11:02. While it was always going to be challenging to topple winner Indiphile Myeki, Van der Merwe ran a beautiful race and showed it was just a matter of time before posing a serious challenge to the Katlehong AC runner.

Summing up their season, Van Aswegen said his charges have looked strong since league one and that gives him the confidence to build on as the season reaches its conclusion.

On his expectations at the provincials, he said, “I am not one to place expectations on my athletes other than going out and doing what you have trained for. If you know you trained for it, you will achieve it.”

“If you have taken shortcuts or been inconsistent in your training, you can’t expect to perform at the level of athletes who have worked harder or been more consistent than you.”

Also Read: Van Dyk wins gold at nationals

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