#TuksAthletics: Goes down in Varsity Athletics but not without a fight

Posted on March 18, 2019

The UP-Tuks reign as the champions of Varsity Athletics might have come to an end on Friday in Potchefstroom however it was indeed not a case of them merely capitulating.

 

The defending champions fought up to the last race to ensure they finish second overall. In doing, they continued the proud tradition set eight years ago by the UP-Tuks athletes. That is being in the worst case scenario the runners-up.  Ever since the inception of the Varsity Athletics UP-Tuks was victorious on five occasions.

 

Northwest-Pukke is the new Varsity Champions. It is the second time they managed to do so. UJ was third overall.

 

Ammie Sutton, UP-Tuks manager, is genuinely excited about how the athlete's performances.

 

“Everyone knew we were under pressure and no one did disappoint. For the first time, fifteen of our athletes managed to score more than 1 000 points. I truly felt proud being a Tukkie watching them perform,” said Sutton

 

Theuns Ehlers was UP-Tuks best athlete winning the 800m in 1:47.9 which was nearly two seconds faster than his winning time in Stellenbosch and just 0.74 seconds slower than his personal best time of 1:47.16.

 

The UP-Tuks athlete impressed again with the way he took the race by the scruff of the neck racing from the front setting the challenge of catching me if you can. His performance was worth 1086 points.

 

Aynslee van Graan was another UP-Tuks athlete who impressed with her aggressive approach. Racing the 1 500m, she took the lead from the start and relentlessly started to tire her rivals slowly increasing her lead stride by stride. She won in 4:23.8 setting a new Varsity record.

 

There is not going to be any real respite for her as in two weeks she will be representing South Africa at the World Cross Country Championships in Denmark.

 

The race of the evening was without a doubt the women’s 400m-hurdles. If that is going to be a foretaste of what is going happen for the rest of the season the event is undoubtedly going to be one of the most exciting on the local calendar.

 

The former youth and junior world champion, Zeney van der Walt (UP-Tuks), had to fight to the very last metre to ensure she wins. The athlete breathing down her neck was no other than her training partner, Gezelle Magerman (UP-Tuks), who is a former Youth Olympian champion.

 

There are indeed many who have given up on seeing Magerman performing to her best again but judging by what happened in Potchefstroom it certainly looks that they might be wrong. Van der Walt’s winning time of 58.73s might not be considered fast. The same goes for Magerman finishing in 59.00s.

 

However, sometimes it is not just about being fast. Magerman seemingly regained her confidence, and that bodes well for her as well as South African hurdling.

 

Sokwakhana Zazini ((UP-Tuks), also a former youth and junior world champion, won the men’s 400m-hurdles in 51.03s. Although his winning time is faster than it was in Stellenbosch, it is clear he still got to do a lot of hard work before being close to his best.

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- Author Wilhelm de Swardt

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