"I was motivated" - Chelsea van Dyk after winning her fourth title of the year
Chelsea van Dyk was so dominant in the U13 girls' 1500m final at the ASA sub-youth track and field championships in Bloemfontein that one competitor, resting under in the shade after the race, admitted she wanted to stop mid-race just to watch the Benonian tear apart the 35-athlete field to win her fourth national title of the year.
After refusing to lose in the 800m a day earlier where she won gold after surrendering her lead at the bell and then coming from the outside to wrestle it back on the finishing straight, such was Van Dyk’s dominance in the three-and-a-half lap race on 7 December that once she shot to the front with the starter's gun, no one on the track could match her speed and power. The 13-year old lived up to her pre-race favourite billing as she blitzed through the field unchallenged and eventually took the tape in a PB 4:40.49, making it two PBs in two days after clocking 02:16.16 in the 800m.
"I had a lot of determination and motivation after a disappointing track season earlier this year," she told #TheTopRunner moments after her triumph at the Mangaung Athletics Stadium.
Ending the year with four national titles is a feat many athletes wouldn't even dream of, and if you had told Van Dyk after the primary schools and clubs track and field season in March that good things come in fours, she would probably have scoffed at you. The Rynfield Primary School alumnus had to sweat for this success, as she overcame a rough patch in the first half of the year. She finished in a disappointing fourth position at the South African Schools Athletics (SASA) primary schools track and field champs in March and a result which almost saw her quit the sport.
"It's still fourth in the country but fourth is also missing third. But when you come first but your time isn't great, you won't be as happy as you could be. I did perform and got the time I wanted but I think I was just nervous. Then I had a patch after the track season and just before the cross-country season started where running became like a chore. I was like 'OMG I have to run again'. It was like that. But afterwards I fell in love with it again."
Rejuvenated and loving the sport again, the runner who is coached by former 800m specialist Michael van Aswegen found her motivation during the cross-country season. She went through the CGA and schools' seasons undefeated and concluded with gold medals at the ASA nationals in the Vaal and the SASA national champs in Kimberly in September She now looks back at that fourth-place finish at the Old Peter Mokaba Stadium in Polokwane in March, and believes it was a catalyst to the four national titles she has won.
"I'm happy with how the season went. The last track season I was fourth for schools and clubs. So this track preseason was crucial to set the tone for next year." Next up for the Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC) junior runner is that small matter of the epic assignment to win her first national schools track title. "I haven't won gold in track for schools. That's definitely the goal. But you can't always focus on medals. It's also about time and progression, which are all equally important."
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