First hurdles race for van Zyl in 2012 - Printable Version +- Running Information Forums (https://www.time-to-run.com/forums) +-- Forum: Country and General Discussion (https://www.time-to-run.com/forums/Forum-Country-and-General-Discussion) +--- Forum: South Africa (https://www.time-to-run.com/forums/Forum-South-Africa) +---- Forum: Pre-event (https://www.time-to-run.com/forums/Forum-Pre-event) +---- Thread: First hurdles race for van Zyl in 2012 (/Thread-First-hurdles-race-for-van-Zyl-in-2012)

First hurdles race for van Zyl in 2012 - TheEd - 03-04-2012 SA 400m hurdles record holder, LJ van Zyl will run his first race of the season in his specialist event, the 400m hurdles at the Yellow Pages Interclub competition at the ABSA Tuks Stadium in Pretoria on 5 April. The World Championships bronze medallist made his first appearance of the season in Potchefstroom on 24 March in the 400m flat race where he finished 4th in 46.50sec. According to Coach Hennie Kotze the most important part of LJ’s preparation is to stick to the training program in order to only peak later in the year. He also added that LJ is hoping to qualify just before the SA Championships taking place from 13-14 April. “We had a very good training session yesterday so we will see what happens on Thursday,” said Kotze. Van Zyl will have to run 49.50sec in order reach the Olympic Qualifying A-standard time. The Tuks athlete will most likely be pushed by Shaun van Wyk (PUK) and Taariq Solomons (Bellville) hoping to score maximum points for their respective clubs. Points will be scored on position on the following basis: 9, 7, 6, 5, 4, 3, 2 and 1 point for finishing 8th. Van Wyk ran a new personal best at the SA Junior, Youth and Schools Championships that took place from 29-31 March in Germiston. He finished 2nd in the U23 men’s 400m hurdles in 51.34sec and has been going from strength to strength this season, improving his time at every event so far. Taariq Solomons may still be a junior athlete but is quickly starting to show potential. He won the junior 400m hurdles Titlein Germiston in 51.49sec, narrowly missing out on qualifying for the World Junior Championships. The qualifying standard for the World juniors is 51.46sec. Other athletes to line-up in the 400m hurdles are Willem de Bruin (UJ), Francois Retief (Maties), Ryan Smith (Tyg) and Shami Eksteen (Kovs). Women TUKS will be hoping for maximum points in the women’s 400m hurdles with Wenda Theron representing the club. Theron is one of the top 400m hurdle athletes in South Africa with a best of 56.25sec this season in Stellenbosch on 20 March. Jean-Marie Senekal (Maties), Jana Theron (Puk) and the newly crowned SA Junior Champion Ane Fourie (Bellville) should not be left out of the equation. Senekal, the Africa Junior Champion, came second (59.54sec) at the SA Championships in Germiston in the u23 category just behind Annerie Ebersohn. Fourie ran her best race of the season over the weekend and won in 60.16sec. Teams consist of 20 athletes, 10 male and 10 female, all competing in one chosen event. Events are the 100m, 400m, 800m, 3000m, 100m/110m hurdles, 400m hurdles and field events Shot Put, Javelin throw Long jump and high jump. The club winners of the competition will pocket R100 000. The club finishing second will receive R75 000 while third, fourth and fifth place will get R50 000, R25 000 and R10 000 respectively. Tickets are available online from itickets.co.za, via telephone on 086 1000 291 or at the gate. Prices for tickets are R25 for adults and R15 for children. The first event on the program will start at 18:15 with the last event taking place at 20:15.