Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 117, April 2019 | Page 40

RACE WALKING
Shange are in a class of their own in
South African race walking, and that
it is still early in a very long season,
the chances of a fast time at the
Nationals are not very high.
In the past Wayne would spend
much of the year in Europe,
attending training camps and racing
on the international circuit, but now
that he has a full-time teaching
position and recently became a
father, he says he needs to relook
at how he juggles his time. He will
thus spend most of his season
preparing for Doha in the rarified
air of Pretoria.
Walking
to Doha
“My support base is here, my sponsors are
here, and of course, with just having become a dad,
I do need to be at home more, so my season will be
different to usual, but I am excited and comfortable.
It will be tough going, as I will need to be able to do
some races in Europe, and that will need to revolve
around my family and work commitments, but the
season is long, so I think I have time.”
Lessons Learnt
Wayne says that even after so many years competing
on the world circuit, he is still learning new things all
the time. Every race is a learning curve, and his recent
trip to Lugano proved no different. “I am trying to get
my pace up, so I went out hard and was in the lead. I
felt really good and comfortable, so at 12km, I put in
a surge. Unfortunately, I picked up two yellow cards,
which turned the race into a tactical affair. I am still
happy with my race, although my time needs to come
down.”
So that will be the focus in coming months, as Wayne
tries to fulfil all the criteria required to make sure he
is on the start line in Doha on 4 October. If he does
qualify, he can look forward to the novel experience
of racing in the middle of the night. That’s because
the 20km race walk will start at a rather unorthodox
11:30pm, due to the high heat and humidity prevalent
in Doha at that time of the year.
Race walker Wayne Snyman has his sights firmly set on the World
Championships in Doha in October, where he hopes to finally tick off a big bucket
list item. – BY MANFRED SEIDLER
Speaking from Lugano, Switzerland, after his third
place finish in the Lugano 16 Memorial Mario Albisetti
20km Race Walk, Wayne says he is well aware that
2019 is going to be a very long year for him, and
the other South African athletes. “With the World
Championships in October, this will be another
very long year for us, coming after 2018 had the
Commonwealth Games early in the year, in April,
forcing an earlier start than normal to our season. So I
need to race carefully and wisely. I also need to make
sure that my international ranking is high, as this has
40
an impact on which events I will get invited to. All of
this also has to fit in with my work as a school teacher,
so there’s a lot of juggling going on.”
The reason Wayne needs to do this juggling act is that
the IAAF recently changed its qualifying system for
the World Championships. In the past it was based
purely on athletes hitting a qualifying mark, but now is
based on both a qualifying time and a ranking system.
He therefore needs to race internationally in order to
accumulate points to attain a top 60 global ranking, as
well as needing to hit the 1:22:30 qualifying time for
20km, as stipulated by the IAAF. Wayne’s current PB
is 1:20:46, set in 2016 at the SA Championships.
Chasing the Dream
Wayne will thus stay in Europe until 8 April before
returning home and competing in the National
Championships at the end of the month, where he
hopes to secure his fourth national title in the 20km.
He will also be hoping to hit that 1:22:30 qualifying
mark, but given that he and main rival Lebogang
ISSUE 117 APRIL 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za
I
t is incredible that in a career spanning 13 years,
Wayne Snyman has donned the Green and Gold on
12 occasions, including at the 2016 Olympics in Rio,
but he has yet to compete at a World Championships.
So 2019 is a big year for the 34-year-old race walker.
With the World Champs taking place Doha, Qatar in
October, this could possibly be the last time he will
get a shot at a World Championships appearance,
and for this reason his preparations for the year have
been meticulously planned.