Age no hurdle for late bloomer De Reuck

COMEBACK READY: Colleen de Reuck in the 10 000m at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. She is due to take part in two ultra marathons this season. AT 28, Colleen de Reuck was no spring chicken when she made her Olympic marathon debut for South Africa in 1992.

By the time she finally left the Olympic stage in 2004 — coming 39th in the Athens marathon in US colours — she was 40.

And on Saturday at the age of 51, she will make her debut in the 56km Two Oceans marathon in Cape Town — a “steady training run” for the 89km Comrades marathon on May 29.

The ultra marathons mark her return to running after several years competing in triathlons around the world. The response from her South African supporters had been “amazing”, De Reuck said this week.

“I am not used to doing interviews as I have been out of the racing world for a good few years,” she said from her home in Boulder, Colorado.

The mother of two girls from Vryheid in KwaZulu-Natal trains with her husband, Dar- ren. “He is kind to slow down and take it easy when he is with me. I often will want to take over the training when he is in charge,” she said.

Darren, himself an experienced athlete and running coach, finished fourth in the Two Oceans in 1992. “I believe with Colleen’s experience and strength as an athlete she could do really well,” he said.

“The weather has been mild so Colleen is in pretty damn good shape right now. We are both excited for Two Oceans.”

De Reuck said she had eliminated cycling from her training and retained only a little swimming.

“Time is always an issue to get everything done. I lift weights and do two hard workouts twice a week, a long run and some easy runs to get the mileage up,” she said.

Her advice to other late bloomers? “If you want something, always give it a try. You never know what you can achieve.”