Tuks female athletes delivered outstanding performances at the Gauteng North Athletics Championships at Pilditch Stadium, setting new personal bests.

• Charné Swart—800m | 1:59.45 (Second sub-2:00 in 7 days!)
• Marlie Viljoen—400m | 51.42s
• Colette Uys—Shot Put | 17.36m

Swart becomes only the fourth South African woman to break the two-minute barrier more than once—joining legends Caster Semenya, Prudence Sekgodiso, and Zelda Botes.

According to the fifth-year medical student, she didn't expect to run that fast again so soon.

"During the week, the plan was to run tactically and ensure I won. In the end, I decided to do something completely different. I have gone out hard from the start. Luckily, everything worked out."

Viljoen ran the 1500 meters in 4:11.80 on Saturday. That's almost four seconds faster than her previous best time, which she set in 2023.

"I'm actually unhappy about the 1500 meters being played out. I was in the lead from the start. It was in the last few meters that I was beaten."

Marlie Viljoen's winning time of 51.42 seconds in the 400m is 0.41 seconds faster than her previous best of 51.81 seconds (2023). Since 2019, Miranda Coetzee and Zeney van der Walt have been the only two South African female athletes to run a faster time in the 400m than Viljoen.

Colette Uys, a medical student, set a new personal best in the shot put, winning with a distance of 17.36 meters. With the performance, Uys established herself as one of the ten best women's shot putters of all time in South African athletics. Over the weekend, Uys won the women's hammer throw (64.44 meters) and discus (50.45 meters).

One of the highlights of Saturday was Marione Fourie's victory in the 100m hurdles in 12.88 seconds. 

Her performance is undoubtedly one of the most heroic of the weekend. Jaun Strydom, her coach at Tuks, passed away on Thursday, the day after she won the 100m hurdles at the first Grand Prix edition, with a time of 12.77s. That time is currently the fastest in the world, and Saturday's 12.88s is the second fastest.

Soandri Meyer, who won the pole vault, dedicated her gold medal to Strydom.

"Coach Jaun was like a father to me. I have more photos of him with me than with my own father. I can't believe he's dead. It's awful," she said, crying.

Leonette Vosloo, who won the 100 meters in 11.75s, struggles to find the right words to describe what Coach Jaun means to her. She was also in tears while talking.

"We were privileged to have a coach like Coach Jaun. People who didn't know him won't understand how much we miss him." 

Mila Compaan, who finished second in the 200 meters, says Coach Jaun genuinely cared about each of his athletes' interests and was always willing to listen.

"There were times when he said we had to train hard first, and then he would listen. Coach Jaun carried us through more than just athletics. When things started to get difficult with my studies, his words to me were, 'Don't worry about it; we're going to plan athletics around your studies.'"