The following story was written for this media platform by Elgan De Wet, 12-year-old boy from Hopefield, who has athletics supporters in raptures on the athletics tracks when he participates.
His story in his own writing….
From 2018 I always watched athletics on the television, even if it was also athletics at the Olympic games, for me it was fun to follow. Although I participated in athletics at school, I was surprised when I got gold in 2021. This was after I broke the Hopefield High School’s Inter-house school colors – the athletics 80-meter race for boys U/9’s record.
In 2022 I became a school sensation overnight, when I won gold again in the 80m race, and was very close to the record set by Tristan Gallant.
(Gallant is at the Agricultural School in Wellington from 2024)
After a full week of “torture”, the day of Zone School – Athletics took place at the Curro school in Langebaan. My best was a 5th place in the U/10 in the 80 meter race. After the athletics participation, there were three months of athletics exercises, and a busy rugby season, leading to a new year.
Elgan De Wet after he breaking the 100 meter record of 14 years
The 2023 season I rounded everything off with gold in all events, including the 100m, 80m, as well as long jump at the colors athletics and the Zones Athletics events in Hopefield. I even set a new long jump record, the athlete wrote.
But at the West – Boland competition, I did not so good and achieved a 6th place in long jump, 8th in the 100 meters and 2nd in 80 meters races. However, I kept my head down, and at the Western Cape Athletics, I took 1st place, and suddenly the pressure was on me. However, I qualified for the ASA Championships, and I decided to relax and just enjoy myself.
I achieved 2nd place in 80 meters, which was also a school record. The same year in November, I won gold in Bredarsdorp in the 80m, 100m and silver in the 150 meters races. The first two items were new schools records, as well as a Bredarsdorp school records.
This 2024 season, I started more relaxed and received first places in the 100m, 150m and the long jump at the Colours – Athletics Zones and West – Boland competitions. However, at the Boland championships I had to settle for 4th place in the long jump, but was 1st in the 100m and 150m races, with both items also being new school records.
At the WP Athletics meeting, my achievements were almost a repeat of the Boland achievements, when I won gold in the 100 meter’s, and get silver in 150 meter’s, and together with my relay team, we earned gold in the relay competition.
Elgan’s best times he achieved are as follows…
80m – 10.22s
100m – 12.23s
150m – 18.32s
Long jump – 4.98 meters.
The athlete concludes his story with the following message…
“STAY humble – STAY positive – STAY FAST”
According to the athlete’s mother, the boy is academically just as good at school as his sport. With the story he wrote about his athletic achievements, and this at the age of 12, it left me speechless as a newspaper reporter. The team here at Western Cape Sports Solutions can only wish him the best of luck with his sports and school career.
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