Women in Sport: The grandmaster who still breaks barriers

She is no longer fighting for honours at the front of the field, but road running icon Sonja Laxton’s lengthy career
has come full circle.

At 71, Laxton remains a prominent figure in the sport, and though her elite career was restrained first by social misconceptions about the athletic ability of women and later by sporting sanctions, she achieved enough to be crowned queen of South African road running.

Growing up in Port Elizabeth, Laxton (formerly Van Zyl) started running in high school, but she had to be largely content with sprint events in the early stages of her career, with women being predominantly blocked from racing distances beyond 1 500m because it was felt by male officials that it would be too strenuous on their bodies.

With those outdated restrictions being lifted after she left school, Laxton began competing over longer distances
while studying at Wits, where she earned a Masters degree in biochemistry.

Though she struggled at first, her fitness soon improved and her dormant talent was unearthed, and it wasn’t long before she was breaking new ground.

Laxton went on to win 70 national titles and break 28 SA senior records across a wide range of distances on multiple surfaces during her great career.

Perhaps proving how much of an impact she made, more than three decades after she reached her peak in the mid 80s, she is still listed among the top 20 in the all-time SA women’s rankings over the 3 000m (8:58.90) and 5 000m (15:57.01) distances on the track, as well as 15km (51:45), 21km (1:13:45) and 42km (2:35:44) on the road.

Despite being largely restricted from competing internationally in her prime, missing out on potential appearances
at the Olympic Games and the World Championships due to political sanctions placed on South African sport,
Laxton was satisfied with the chances she got to compete at home while making occasional forays abroad.

“I had so much fun from my running that I can’t be too sad about what I missed,” she says.

“I made many friends that I am still in contact with today.”

With her elite performances placing Laxton among the best distance runners the country has ever produced, her longevity continues to turn heads more than 50 years after she first took up the sport.

Retaining her competitive edge, she holds just about every national age group road running record in the books after dominating the veterans (40-49 years), masters (50-59) and grandmasters (60-69) categories.

Now, competing among a small group of athletes in the great grandmasters (70-79) division, she continues to appear regularly on the start lines of road races around Joburg, in the colours of Rand Athletic Club.

Along with husband Ian, himself a prominent figure in the sport, and daughter Kim, an accomplished distance runner in her own right, the Laxton family are synonymous with domestic athletics.

Though she sticks to shorter distance road races these days, Laxton is pleased to still be actively involved.

Rewarding athletes with points for category positions, and giving older individuals a chance to fight for overall honours, she says the Grand Prix campaign is her main focus from a competitive aspect these days.

“They really are something to look forward to and I plan my year’s training around them,” she says of the series, which attracts tens of thousands of participants.

“I think they have done a lot to get women involved in running.”

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