As the athletics track and field season draws to a close, promising athletes from across the city gave a good account of themselves at regional and national championships.
Riaan Galant, 18, a matriculant at Eros Special Education School, in Bridgetown, smashed three records at last week’s SA Sports Association for the Physically Disabled (SASAPD) national championships, held at various venues across the city.
A member of the Athlone-based Unitie Sports Club, the young athlete has been involved with athletics for six years, specialising in field events javelin, shot put and discus. He dominated his division at last week’s championships, improving his own records set during trials the previous year.
Born with cerebral palsy which affects the muscles in his legs and categorised in the F34 division for seated athletes, Riaan says he’s had to work hard balancing school work and training for major competitions.
“There are times when my sports training and strength training clash with other priorities ,like school. For example, for my entire first term exams I had to balance my training , finishing school work and study while also focusing on athletics. I had to be productive,” he said, somewhat wryly.
“When I get home from school, I just make me something to eat, go straight to my books, finish any work I didn’t finish, study and then sit with my Bible for a few minutes before taking an hour-long break.That’s the hour where you’d see me train or do strength training for my upcoming events in the nationals or trials,” he said.
Thankfully, he says, he has Muriel Susa, 72, a legendary coach in the disabled sports sector, in his corner. A long-serving member of Unitie, Susa has been at the forefront of promoting sports for the disabled for nearly 60 years, 45 years as a coach, taking a number of athletes under her wing and ensuring their success on national and international level.
“Riaan is a very dedicated, consistent and disciplined athlete and will next be in competition in Stellenbosch later this year to try and qualify for SA championships in Bloemfontein 2024, which is also the year of the Paralympics in Paris,” she said.
Based on his performance, Riaan stands a good chance to make the squad, she said, pointing out that there are a number of challenges he and other disabled athletes face. Over and above their disabilities, they are very much marginalised compared to the able bodied athletes. The worst challenge they face is finance, they must pay for everything, even the tracksuit they wear to represent Western Cape,” she said.
For now, her star athlete remains composed in the face of adversity, preferring to figure out ways to overcome whatever challenges may lie ahead. “The moment my training begins I don’t stop,” he said, “because I need to do everything that I can do, because I’m always pressed for time..”So I have to use the time while I still have it and not waste a second of it, “ he said.
“I’m praying that I shall be elected to go for Paralympics and represent South Africa in Parris and become a professional athlete,” he said.
Meanwhile, Riaan is not the only Cape Athlete that performed well in recent competitions. In arguably the biggest news to hit the city, Team Western Cape’s under-11 4x100m relay team showed the rest of the field a clean pair of heels at the primary schools’ national championships in Pietermaritzburg. In a now gone viral video, Lamicah Adamson, from Mitchell’s Plain can be seen powering down the back straight on the second leg to give her team a commanding lead. The best was yet to come, as former WP star hurdler Naeem Jack ran the competition into the ground at Athletics South Africa’s under-16, under-18 and under-20 national championships in the same city, last Friday. Now sporting the black and gold colours of Boland Athletics since his transfer from Mondale High in Mitchell’s Plain to Paarl Boys, Jack was at his explosivie best, first out of the starting blocks in the boys’ under-18 110m hurdles and crossing the finish line in record-breaking style.
(Blurb) In other action, Rylands High’s Furqaan Jacobs won the boys’ under-17 long jump event with a leap of 6.68 m to pip Boland’s Charldenyo Vermeulen into second place at last week’s Western Cape high schools’ athletic championship at the Dal Josaphat Stadium, in Paarl. However,he picked up a groin injury and disappointingly came fourth in the under-17 100 m final after comfortably winning his heat earlier in the competition.
Wynberg Girls’ Qaadirah Crous made up for her disappointment after finishing third in the girls under-17 long jump to win the triple jump event with a distance of 11.33 meters.
Jan van Riebeeck Highs Schools’s rising middle distance star Damain Bosch dominated the boys under-19 race to win in 1min53.25sec after leading from start to finish. His times is far from his personal best of 1min51.99sec.
Barefoot middle-distance upstart, Bellville High’s Cleo Marthinus, clinched a remarkable double at the schools’ championship, winning both the girls’ under-14 800 and under-15 1500 titles at the meeting held to pave the way for her selection for the national championship set to take place in Germiston from Saturday to Wednesday April 1-7.
(Additional reporting by Mark Ward)