Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 114, January 2019 | Page 49

Signed Up To Walk
In 2003 Elsa was talked into joining Master Athletics and she won the first
5000m race that she walked, but when she received two warnings at the Central
Gauteng Champs meet, she decided she needed help with style and technique.
Under the watchful eye of Carol van der Walt she quickly improved, and in 2005
she earned national colours in both the 5000m and 10km events. At the World
Masters Champs in San Sebastian, Spain that year, competing in the 55-59
category, she narrowly missed a medal after finishing fourth in both her events.
Another back operation in December 2005 saw two more vertebrae fused, but
it only slowed her down temporarily, and in August 2006, on her 60 th birthday,
she claimed her first record when she improved the 10km Gauteng North mark
at the Transwerk 10km event. The following year saw her take on the long
distances as well, walking the Om Die Dam 50km and Loskop 50km ultra-
marathons in 6:06 and 5:54 respectively, and then completing the Comrades
Marathon in eleven and a half hours with fellow walkers Gerhardt van der Raad
and Bea Pretorius.
WALK
THIS
WAY
By Anel Oosthuizen
The 2009 World Masters Games in Sydney, Australia brought still more success
as Elsa took gold in the 20km and silver in the 5000m, also setting new SA age
group records in both, and since then success after success has followed. At
the 2013 World Masters Champs in Porto Alegre, Brazil, she won gold medals in
the 5000m, 10km and 20km in the 65-69 age category. Three years later at the
World Champs in Perth, Australia, she once again won all three events, added
a gold and a silver in the team competitions, and bettered the World Record for
20km in the 70-74 age category.
HAPPY NEW WALKING!
However, when asked what she considers the highlight of her competitive
Masters career, she doesn’t pick the World Champs medals, she opts for
the records. “For me, the highlights have been the South African Records for
all three distances in three different age categories, and of course my World
Record in Australia,” she says.
W
e so often hear people saying that “It’s time to start fresh,” or “It’s a
new year, so now I will do that.” And I have always wondered why
we tend to only start our goals in a new week, a new month, or
especially a new year. Why wait for a new year or new month? Start right away.
Take advantage of what you are capable of doing now. Why not today? There is
no better time than now…
Higher Honours
Thanks to all her record-breaking, medal-winning feats, Elsa was honoured
with the Order of Ikhamanga, Bronze, by the State President of South Africa in
2018. The official citation read, “Her achievements came through hard work and
dedication. She is the perfect example of what can be achieved at an age when
most people do not think there is much more to be achieved anymore. She is
an inspiration to the young and old.”
Even though still young, I have learnt valuable lessons in my life that the best
time to do something that you want to do is now. Life sometimes has a way of
throwing curveballs at us, and next week, next month or next year we may not
be able to do that one thing that we have been wanting to do.
So, if you have gone to the gym for the first five days of the new year, then
stopped going because it was ‘just’ a new year’s resolution, don’t beat yourself
up about it too much. Yes, we all have new goals to strive for, and that can be
hard, but I prefer to follow the rule of not making New Year’s resolutions, but
rather try to create new habits.
When asked about the award, Elsa says it came as a big surprise. “It was an
amazing experience and the people were so nice to me, including President
Ramaphosa. I actually flew up to Pretoria that morning from Bloemfontein,
where we were busy with the SA Masters Champs, and when I met the
President, he told me he had gone for a walk in Bloemfontein earlier that same
day. I told him so did I! Afterwards, my friends joked that I should have asked
him for a lift back to the Champs.”
Looking to the future, Elsa says she has been putting off another back
operation since 2016 so that she can continue competing. “I plan to keep
walking for as long as possible, because I would like to break records in the 80s
category as well!” Of course, it costs a lot of money to get to World Champs,
so she is still hard
at work with her
clothing business,
specialising in
wedding and
Matric ball dresses,
to fund her travels.
“We Masters
have to pay our
own expenses to
compete, so I am
working on my
next trip overseas,
which will be the
World Champs in
Toronto in 2020.”
Chances are good
she’ll bring another
clutch of medals
back with her.
On the Race Walking calendar we have some exciting events coming up in
2019, with our Race Walking Interprovincial Championships in October being
the highlight of the year locally. We also have one year to go until the next Race
Walking World Cup and the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo, so there is much hard
work to be done and so many goals to strive for!
So start today! Leave 2018 in the
past and focus on all the good
stuff. Take a deep breath and
start creating those good habits!
Eat healthy, train consistently,
and most importantly love every
second of 2019! And while you’re
busy turning this into your year,
I would love to hear the new
habits you are creating in 2019
as well as your best attempts in
your race walking. Tweet them
to me @anel_oosthuizen, or tag
me in your Instagram story/post
(same handle), and I’ll share the
best ones as well as post some
of mine, too. Happy New Year
to us all!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Race Walker Anel Oosthuizen is a multiple SA
Champion and Record Holder, and represented SA at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
49