Tebogo Mamathu (TuksAthletics) who was last year South African second fastest female sprinter hopes to prove this season that less is best. 

She has dropped nearly 4kg in weight due to her newfound fondness for ‘veggies’ and protein. What excites her, even more, is that for the first time in three years she is entirely injury free. When she talks about her lack of niggles Mamathu can’t help smiling broadly.

“It makes a difference being 100% fit. In the past, it was a case of just when I felt like am getting into to shape I got injured. Mostly it was hamstring injuries that set me back. That is a big handicap because it means after you had recovered you got to start the process of regaining your fitness and speed all over.

“At the end of last year, I decided I got to do something about my diet as I was constantly feeling sluggish on the track. I cut down dramatically on eating ‘carbs’. Its still early days but weighing less feels like I can run faster times.”

Over the past three seasons, Mamathu has been consistently improving her time over 100 metres. In 2015 she ran 11.88s, in 2016 her best time was 11.40s and last year she ran 11.34s. Only Carina Horn running 11.10s was faster in 2017. At the South African Championships in Potchefstroom, she won a silver medal.

The Tuks athlete has not yet decided when she is going to start racing, but as she is planning to compete at the South African Championships, it will be in the next three weeks. She admits that she is still on a quest to run the perfect race, but she doesn’t want to commit to a specific time. 

“In the past each time when I thought about running a specific time before a race I failed. So now my only goal is to run fast and whatever happens, happens.”

A definite goal will be to be competitive in Europe for the first time.

During her training sessions at Tuks, she is starting to build a reputation as a track bully. It is not of her own doing. Her coach, Hennie Kriel, is to be blamed. When he is being approached by young athletes asking him to coach them, he agrees, but they first got to pass a test. That is to beat Mamathu over 30 metres. So far very few succeeded in doing so. 

Mamathu just laughs when she is asked if she enjoys denting young male egos. For her it is simple. Keep up if you can.