Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 121, August 2019 | Page 15

Breaking the Mould
Tebogo Mamatu
Tebogo Mamatu
It has been no secret for a number
of years now that track star
Tebogo Mamatu is immensely
talented and has big potential in
the sprints, in particular in the
100m, and 2019 seems to be the
year in which she steps things
up another notch and looks to
challenge on the global stage.
Last year was not the best of years
for her, having struggled with injury,
but this year has seen a very different
Tebogo. In April she won her first Senior
National Title in Germiston, clocking
11.45 seconds. But it was when she hit
the European circuit that things really started
to click. She won in Rieti (24 May, 11.33), Lier (8
June, 11.50), and Herounville (13 June, 11.43). She
also picked up a second place finish in Sollentuna (18
June, 11.43) and a fourth at Tomblaine on 22 June.
A busy schedule indeed, but it paid off, as she
received an invite to the La Chaux-de-Fonds Meeting
on 30 June in Switzerland. This is the same track
on which Henricho Bruintjies broke through the
10-second barrier and set the then SA 100m record of
9.97 in 2015.
GETTING IT ALL RIGHT
In turn, Tebogo also had a perfect race here, blasting
out of the blocks and holding her form until just before
the finish line, and when she looked at the clock, not
only had she out-dipped China’s Wei Yongli to take
the win, but she had also clocked 11.04, the second-
fastest time ever by a South African. (Only Carina
Horn has ever gone faster.) This time gives her an ASA
qualifying time for the World Championships later this
year in Doha, Qatar!
The time also puts Tebogo at the top of the 2019
SA rankings in the Women’s 100m, and the young
Tuks sprinter admits she was shocked about her
performance. “At the moment, I don’t have words
to describe how it feels to at long last run the race I
knew I could. One moment I am happy, the next I am
wondering whether it is really me that ran 11.04. It has
not sunk in what I have achieved,” she says.
Tebogo’s exploits in Europe have seen her selected
for the Africa Games team that will compete in
Morocco between 16 and 31 August, and she has
become an ambassador for the Girls Only Project, an
NPO based in Pretoria whose focus is to help create
a more equal sporting landscape for women in South
Africa and Africa. Clearly, all the years of hard work in
her track career are starting to pay off!
“At the moment, I
don’t have words to
describe how it feels
to at long last run the
race I knew I could”
Running for the
Children
Petro Miller &
Teresa Morris
They look alike and are often mistaken for sisters,
and are even referred to as the ‘Terrible Twins,’ but
Brackenfell AC clubmates Petro Miller and Teresa
Morris of Cape Town are not related. They do,
however, share a wonderful friendship, a great love of
running, as well as a common goal to help others, and
they’ve taken their unique sisterhood to a new level
through their Run for a Child initiative.
It all started last year at the prize-giving of the 1000km
Challenge, where they heard that the upcoming Pink
Flowers 12-hour circuit race in Melkbos had been
cancelled. “The Challenge people were up in arms, as
they needed the mileage, so Teresa just piped up, let’s
do our own event. I agreed, so we spoke to Gerhard
Fourie, chairman of the Challenge, to ask permission.
He asked how we would do timing and we told him
we would simply use elastic bands, so he said
fine.”
The ‘Terrible Twins,’ Teresa
Morris (left) and Petro Miller
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