The Prins of athletes
FAIRLAND – See a video of a young local athlete become the U12 boys 1 200m champion.
Marco Prins described his final dash that took him passed two runners to make him the South African U12 1 200m champion, as his moment of glory.
The 11-year-old Fairland resident felt nervous before racing in the SA Schools Athletics National Primary Schools Track and Field Championships in Potchefstroom, and only came seventh in his heat.
Yet, the final will forever change his life. He finished in 00:03:36, two-and-a-half seconds ahead of the rest. Now Prins knows he is the fastest 1 200m runner in his age group in South Africa.
“I learnt to never give up at the champs,” he said. “In 2015 I went to the champs for long distance and came 20th. This year I came first.”
Prins, who attends Laerskool Jan Celliers looks up to Kenyan runners, David Rudisha and Wilson Kiprotich, and his dream is to win medals at the Olympics.
“I have been running since I was seven. I love that you can just go on and on – there is freedom, hardly any rules.”
For him, the worst thing about running is that ‘when you are tired, you feel like dying’, he said while mock-choking himself.
But Prins does not just run. He runs, swims and shoots.
He represented Gauteng and Central Gauteng in cross-country between 2014 and 2016, and still represents his province in the biathle – a run, swim, run event – and in laser-run.
Laser-run involves shooting a laser gun at targets while running.
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