ROAD RUNNING
A year later, Louzanne competed at her first National Track Championships, and she went on to compete in France at the 2013 World Championships, finishing seventh in the 800m. At the 2015 World Championships in Doha, she finished sixth in both the 800m and 1500m, but disappointment followed in 2016 at the Rio Paralympics when she was disqualified in the 1500m, because her guide was adjudged to have helped her by running slightly faster than her. However, she soon bounced back with a fourth place in the 1500m at the 2017 World Championships in London.
Pushing Boundaries
CHASING GOALS
Claus has been Louzanne’ s road running guide for roughly 18 months now and they train together between three and five times a week.“ Louzanne makes me work hard,” he chuckles. Of course, the relationship between guide and runner cannot be overestimated, and Louzanne says they have worked out the finer details perfectly.“ In the beginning when Claus and I started training together, he would tell me to lift my feet at a particular point, or he would tell me we are about to approach a hill, or we are coming to the next water station, but now I can interpret his movements when he is running and we no longer need to have those conversations. That obviously comes as you train together.”
When Louzanne announced her intention to chase the World Record at Soweto, she immediately caught the attention of the media and was interviewed on a number of radio stations.“ I really feel that I have been able to reach people. The Old Mutual Soweto Marathon made that possible, and that has given me hope that I can reach more and more people to educate them and provide more awareness for the sport.”
Louzanne Coetzee may have been a bit disappointed with her finishing time at the Old Mutual Soweto Marathon, but this intrepid blind athlete says it was valuable experience for the races still to come. – BY MANFRED SEIDLER
The World Record time for the marathon in the women’ s T11( para-athlete) class for visually impaired athletes is 3:13:15, held by Jin Zheng of China. South Africa’ s Louzanne Coetzee is the T11 World Record holder over 5000m, having clocked 18:47.27 in Nottwill, Switzerland in June. What is the correlation between the two? Well, on 5 November, the Bloemfontein-based Kovsies student went after that 3:13:15 at the Old Mutual Soweto Marathon, with trusted guide Claus Kempen running alongside her. Unfortunately, Soweto proved a slightly bigger challenge than she expected and she had to settle for a still impressive 3:31:11, and the second-fastest time for 2017 in her class.
“ In hindsight, that was probably not the best race in which to chase the record, especially as it was my debut marathon, but I really believed I could do it, after running a big PB in the half marathon on 15 October,” Louzanne says wryly. That 21km PB came in the OR Tambo Marathon Half Marathon, when she clocked 1:27:45, and she also has a 10km PB of 38:26.“ Soweto was tough. It was very hot, and although the water stations were incredibly boisterous, me not being able to see the sachets being handed out meant we lost a fair bit of time. Make no mistake, I loved the race. The water points had such an incredible atmosphere, and the residents of Soweto were amazing in their support, but to chase a record … this was possibly the wrong race.”
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ISSUE 102 JANUARY 2018 / www. modernathlete. co. za
Louzanne says she and Claus have learned a tremendous amount from running the Soweto Marathon.“ In Bloemfontein, the races are not nearly as big as those in Johannesburg, so we are not used to the masses gathering around the water tables. So, for our next marathon, we will investigate having our own feeding personnel.”
FIGHTING SPIRIT
Louzanne was born with a sight impairment and therefore attended the Pioneer School in Worcester in the Western Cape, where she went on to become Head Girl while also finishing amongst the top academic achievers in the province.“ They have the best school in the country for visually impaired people. It really is an amazing school, but it gets so hot there in the summer! After I matriculated, I moved back to Bloemfontein and studied Corporate Marketing Communication Sciences, and now I am doing a Masters in Disability and Higher Education,” she says.
Her love affair with running started in 2012, during her first year at varsity.“ I was quite keen to start running, so in April that year I took part in my first road race and I was hooked. I met my coach, Rufus Botha, later that year at Bloemfontein Achilles running club, and he immediately took me under his wing. He never doubted me and always believed I could run well.”
In terms of future plans, Louzanne says she wants to run the marathon at the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, and thus wanted to get the feel for the distance early.“ I have not yet given up on the track, because I have unfinished business there, so if the programme allows it in Tokyo, I will do both, track and the marathon.” And that T11 marathon World Record is still calling as well.“ Based on the training and my times, we really thought it was doable, so I will be chasing that too in the future!”
Louzanne with guide Claus Kempen
Images: Jetline Action Photo