Luyanda jumps to personal best
Northwood School pupil impresses at Youth Nationals athletics champs.
A BEAD of sweat trickles down his face as he stares down the track. The crowd begin a slow clap, the sonorous sound reverberates around the Pretoria athletics track. He begins to rock back and forth to aid his start, he storms off the start line, the claps now a cacophonous sound as it increases in tempo, his muscles straining as he approaches the takeoff board.
He jumps, bouncing off the ground three times before launching himself in the air, his feet as far away from his hips as possible. He lands in the soft sand pit, creating a crater of sorts, with millions of particles flying everywhere. He looks back at the judge, who raises a white flag, indicating it is a legal jump. He stares up at the big screen and sees his distance, a personal best. He raises his hands and the crowd go wild.
This was the scene at the recent Youth Nationals athletics champs held in Pretoria. The athlete in question, Northwood School’s Luyanda Mngadi was one of the standout performers at the champs. He claimed gold in the triple jump, jumping a personal best of (14.75m), a silver in the long jump (6.59m) and finishing sixth in the 100m sprint in a time of 10.96 seconds.
“I was ecstatic with my triple jump result. The crowd were amazing, they geed me up and they made me feel like a champ. My aim was to place in the top three so to manage that in two out of the three events, is fantastic. I just waned to give my best and my coach was pretty happy,” he said. “If I’m honest, if I had more time to rest between events, I feel I could have done better in the sprint.”
His impressive performances now mean he will represent South Africa at the African Youth Championships in Mauritius in December.
Luyanda who also holds his school’s record for the 100m, long jump and triple jump said he got into athletics through his older brother.
“My brother has been an inspiration to me throughout my career. He does the same events as me and he always encouraged me to join him and there’s something about relying on yourself that makes you push yourself harder. You are not letting other people down, you have to train hard and if you don’t excel on race day, you can’t blame anyone else,” he said.
