Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 123, October 2019 | Page 54

TRACK & FIELD “Dominique is a fighter, and fiercely competitive” On Wednesday 2 October at 5:25pm SA time, Dominique Scott-Efurd will line up in the women’s heats of the 5000m at the 17th edition of the IAAF World Athletics Championships, in Doha, Qatar. It will be just the third time the hard-working Scott-Efurd dons the Green and Gold of South Africa, a somewhat surprising fact, given her talent and work ethic. That said, the fact that she is on the start line is testament to someone who just does not give up. Because that is simply not an option for her. – BY MANFRED SEIDLER 54 ISSUE 124 OCTOBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za In Grade 1, when Dominique was seven, she told her mother she was bored… and Mom’s reply was, “If you are so bored, why don’t you join in?” The response stunned Dominique. “I was two years younger than the youngest girls she was coaching, because you only have under-nines at that stage, and I guess I always just saw myself as the coach’s daughter.” A week later Dominique lined up for her first cross country race. “I guess it was me just wanting to stand up for myself, so I donned the oversized pink Hershel Girls T-shirt and Navy Shorts, filled the pockets with jelly babies, and off I went.” Dominique is quick to admit that she was way in the back of the field in that race, eating her jelly babies and taking “little picnics” along the way. Competitive Streak Still, the bug had bitten, and each week she became a bit more competitive – a family trait. “We were always a very active and competitive family. My sister, who is three years younger than me, was also a good athlete, so she would push me all the time, whether it was tennis or waterskiing or anything else, so I guess by the time I started cross country, it was ingrained in me.” Four years later Dominique lined up at the Western Province Cross Country Trials, where the top 12 Scott-Efurd Giving Up is Not an Option D ominique was introduced to running from a very early age, as her mother, Renee Scott, was the cross country coach at Hershel Preparatory and Senior School in Cape Town. “My first memory of cross country running, which was my first introduction to running, was when my mom went on cross country camps. I was probably five or six years old at that point. So I would watch the boys and girls running around this dam in Villiersdorp. Then on Fridays I would join my mother and watch how the girls’ team would run cross country races. So I was kind of pulled into running and cross country by default.”