Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Cape speedsters eye the prizes
All have competed at national level and some are already champions in their respective fields
CAPE TOWN is home to some of the fastest young speedsters and they will have their eyes set on qualifying for the Athletics South Africa (ASA) Youth and Junior Championships in March.
All of them have competed at national level and some have been crowned champions in their respective events.
UWC Athletics Club’s Luke Davids, 17, heads into the season as one of the favourites to be crowned the national under-20 100m and 200m champion.
However, Luke, a Grade 11 pupil at Parow High School, will first have to take care of business at the Western Province Athletics (WPA) Youth and Junior Championships at the Parow Athletics Track in March. He will also be boosted by the fact that he was signed by international apparel brand Puma this month.
Last year, Luke had a stellar season after he grabbed the gold medal in the 100m sprints title at the African Youth Games and Youth Olympic Games.
The young Belhar speedster also ran a personal best (PB) of 10.31 in the boys’ under-18 100m sprints at the ASA Youth and Junior Championships that saw him win the gold medal. A few days later, he came first in the 200m sprints event before clocking a personal best of 20.81 seconds in the 200m sprints at the Confederation of African Athletics (CAA) Southern Region Youth and Junior Championships in Boksburg to take gold. Luke had to settle for second place in the 100m sprints.
“I am still not over the fact that I’m the 100m youth Olympic champion. Last season was smooth sailing and everything clicked,” he said.
Bellville Athletics Club’s Jayson Weber was just as impressive last year in the 400m sprints before injury cut short his season. Jayson, a Grade 12 pupil at Brackenfell High School, took the gold medal in the 400m sprints, clocking a PB of 46.71 seconds before running 46.78 in the same event three weeks later at the CAA Southern Region Youth and Junior Championships in Boksburg. The lanky athlete made headlines in 2016 when he was crowned the triple champion in the 100m, 200m and 400m sprints at the ASA Sub-Youth Championships. He has medalled at SA High Schools’ Championships since primary school level, with the only hiccup coming last year where he finished in fourth place in the boys’ u17 200m finals.
Jayson is positive about the season ahead and said his expectations were to grow and develop as an athlete.
“I am definitely looking forward to the new season and I got a feeling it will be a prosperous one filled with even more joys than 2018,” he said.
Trailing in their footsteps will be Itheko Sport Athletics Club’s Azhar Lalla, 18, who came into the 2018 track and field season to many as an unknown factor. Lalla, from Kenwyn, used that to his advantage and went on to finish second in the boys’ u19 100m finals at the South African High Schools’ Championships in Potchefstroom. What will give the former Norman Henshilwood pupil confidence moving forward was the fact that he beat 2017 world u18 200m champion Retshidisitswe Mlenga in the 100m heats at the SA Schools’ Championships last year.
Lalla said last year was a great experience that he would never forget.
“Making the 100m finals last season has motivated me to do even better this year. To come so far in one year was a huge achievement because before that I did not even make the the WP schools’ team,” he said
Also, watch out for Western Cape Sport School’s Elrich Titus,17. Elrich was a finalist in the boys’ u17 400m sprints at the SA High Schools’ Championships. A few weeks later, the Grade 12 pupil ran a PB of 48.21 in the boys’ u18 400m sprints final to finish in sixth place at the ASA Youth and Junior Championships in Paarl. In 2016, the promising speedster grabbed the bronze medal in the boys’ under-15 400m sprints at the SA High Schools’ Championships in Bloemfontein.
Elrich said the plan for this season was to improve on his times and qualify for the ASA Youth and Junior Championships.
Tahriq Welcome, 18, from CPUT Athletics Club, will also be in contention to be Cape Town’s fastest 400m athlete after he made the finals in this event for the past three years at the SA High Schools Championships. Welcome, from Mitchells Plain, also made the finals of the boys’ u18 400m sprints, clocking 49.68 seconds at the ASA Youth and Junior Championships at the Green Point athletics track in 2017. He said he’d use this as motivation for the season.
“My goal for the upcoming season is to do better than last year. Anything is possible when it’s you against the clock,” he said.
Luke and Jayson have been provisionally included in the SA preparation squad for the CAA African Youth and Junior Championships in Ivory Coast in April.