The fastest, strongest and fittest

Every week the Ruimsig Athletics Stadium becomes a training ground for athletes who want to be the fittest, strongest and fastest in their field.
Sprinters, middle-distance runners, high-jumpers and hurdlers, mostly at school level but some who are accomplished athletes, meet to train under the tutelage of experienced coaches. Three of these coaches, Maryna van Niekerk, Johan Furstenburg and Dirk Uys meet at similar times.

These coaches are not afraid that their athletes will rub shoulders with each other, or that some athletes will leave their coach in favour of another. All three are extremely experienced and accomplished in what they do.
Uys has coached athletics for 22 years and Furstenburg coaches University of Johannesburg and school athletes. Van Niekerk, who qualified twice for the Olympic Games in her day, was one of the coaches for the South African athletics team at the Rio 2016 Olympics.

“I started because my dad, Alfred Visagie, ran for South Africa at the 1996 Summer Olympics in the USA,” said a young, budding athlete, Mikaela Visagie (11).
“I like hurdles because I guess I am tall and can jump over things.”
Quincy Vorster (23), who won silver medals in the U23 100m and 200m events at last year’s Athletics Nationals, said everyone in his family competed in sports so when he was young his mother forced him to try sprinting. “I realised I had something, so I took it up,” he said.
Also practising hurdles were Junior Mkatini (25), winner of last year’s University Sports South Africa 110m hurdles event and up-and-coming hurdler, Bertus Strauss (9), who did not quite qualify for the D2 Athletics Championships but aims to make it next time round.
Both these athletes showed equal determination to improve themselves on the track and equal enjoyment of the sport.