Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 100, November 2017 | Page 23

WALK
THIS
WAY
By Anel Oosthuizen
“My current group includes Daniel Arendse, who is going to be a major star in
the future. He adapts well to any challenge I put in front of him, and especially
loves trail, where he has been extremely successful in the Spur Trail Series
and the Dirtopia trail races. He has a natural feel for running. He wasn’t the
fastest runner when we first met in 2012, and usually finished closer to the
back than the front, but I saw something in him and I knew he could do much
better.”
CONTRASTING DEBUTS
A
s this is my first column
for the magazine, I
decided it’s probably
best to go back to the very
beginning. I started race walking
when I was 11 years old, doing
my first race in an oversized red
Absa T-shirt where you could
only see little twigs (my legs)
sticking out. I was hooked from
the beginning, but little did I
know back then that I would
become so passionate about
the sport, or be sitting here
writing this column today. I was
just a little girl with a very big
dream of going to the Olympics
one day… and last year that
dream became a reality.
The important thing for Barry is to talk to his athletes and find out what is
going on in their lives, so that he can help build their character as well as
their physical strengths. “The reason we do well as a group at trail running is
that they know what I want from them, and they know what I believe they are
capable of. When we go to trail races, we do not go there to take selfies, but to
take podiums.” He is also currently organising and self-funding training camps
for his young athletes. “I’m working on doing two camps with them before the
end of the year, one in Piketberg and the other in Ceres. I want to get them out
of the city so that they can focus on training and having fun.”
BRINGING IT HOME
Barry doesn’t just expect hard work from his runners but puts in the hard work
himself, and says he wants to get back to the form that made him a champion.
“I need to lose my stomach if I want to stand on those podiums again... but my
wife’s food is so good that I’m getting a little fat.” Yolanda, who is also a runner,
has been his biggest supporter during their nine years of marriage, and he says
she provides the stability and support at home that he needs to make sure his
busy life does not get too much for him. “To get some perspective and balance
back in our lives we like taking weekend trips to rural dorpies. Life is at a much
better pace there,” says Barry.
Luckily, the race walking technique came naturally to me – no aches or pains,
and no dislocation of my hips. That’s probably the most asked questi