New Varsity Athletics 100m, 200m and 100mh records will be on the cards on 31 March when the Tuks trio Gift Leotlela, Thando Roto and Rikenette Steenkamp line up on their home training ground. Boasting with some of the fastest times in the world, the trio is set to go even faster in the second and final leg of this year’s Varsity Athletics competition.
Fresh from setting a new South African 100m junior record of 10.12sec, Gift Leotlela will lay down the gauntlet in the hopes of breaking the national record in his preferred event, the 200m. His training partner and Varsity Athletics 100m record holder Thando Roto, on the other hand, will look to become the fastest ever South African over the 100m when he lines up on the same surface on which he produced his 9.95sec personal best last weekend.
The rose amongst the thorns, Rikenette Steenkamp, is getting closer to the national record by the week; a feat that, if achieved by Steenkamp, will go down as one of the most inspirational stories in South African athletics history.
With the Varsity Athletics records already to their names, the trio are set to make history when, not if, they break their current Varsity Athletics records. Adding to their advantage is the fact that the they will be competing in front of a packed LC de Villiers Stadium (their training venue) in Pretoria on 31 March.
Bear in mind that this is the track where the first sub-10sec 100m was run by a South African. It is in this very stadium that Gift ran his national junior 100m record and it is also the same surface on which Steenkamp produced a world class 13.02sec 100mh personal best. Is there anything that can stop these training partners from getting better? Well, nothing but the weather.
Working under the watchful eye of Coach Hennie Kriel, the athletes are in very good hands. Having previously worked with the Blue Bulls rugby team, he knows what it is to handle pressure and he is big on humility. No wonder all three of the abovementioned athletes are amongst the most down-to-earth people on the track.
The hard work is done, athletes are starting to ‘taper’ and we are ready to witness South Africa’s real talent at its best! The question is: are you going to be there to witness Tuks make history on home soil?
By Reginald Hufkie
