Morne is no stranger to the hpc as he has already been making use of their World Class Gym facilities for some time now. The talent that Morne has is incredible. In 2002 he set the indoor circuit alight, winning the Euro Energizer Indoor Grand Prix, the Indoor Equivalent of the Golden League. Morne won 5 of his 6 races, the 6^th was a tie.

He then came home to break the 7-year old SA 200m Record of Riaan Dempers, and had he not slacked off in the final 10 or so meters, many believe he could have broken 20sec.

In 2007 Morne decided to move up to the 400m. Just how good he could be in the quarter mile was demonstrated at the annual Engen Meet in Cape Town in December last year. Morne clocked just over 32sec for 300m, the fastest ever by a South Africa. In February this year at the Yellow Pages Meeting in Durban, Morne snapped his Achilles Tendon and the Olympic Dream was over.

Since then Morne has been in rehab at the hpc. “I have been making use of the Physio’s at the hpc and things are looking good. I can’t train in spikes yet, so will only race some time from May or June next year, where I will be focusing on the 200 and 400m.”

For Estie it’s a bit more tricky as she juggles her role as an accountant at Sizwe Ntsaluba with an athletics career. The tricky part comes in, when she heads for Europe in June (neither Morne nor Estie have yet fixed their races) for the final preparation for the World Championships in Berlin in August. Unlike Morne, who will only be able to start racing in May, Estie will be competing in some of the Yellow Pages Meetings which mark the South African Season. “Pretoria is definitely on the cards.” That one happening on 30 January at the LC De Villiers Stadium.

Morne and Estie will be making use of the world-class sports science services on offer at the hpc.