Local lazer runners to light up world championships in Budapest
BRYANSTON – Five South African athletes, including two from the Bryanston area, will be competing in the International Modern Pentathlon Union Laser-Run World Championships.
Local athletes are lighting their way to international competition.
Excitement is brewing among South African laser-run athletes following the announcement of the South African Modern Pentathlon (Sampa) team, which will be competing in the International Modern Pentathlon Union (UIPM) Laser-Run World Championships in Budapest. The Pentathlon World Championships and Laser-Run World Championships are both heading for Hungary’s capital from the 4–8 of September this year.
Laser-run is the UIPM’s fastest-growing development sport, which incorporates the finale of the Olympic version of modern pentathlon.
The global growth in laser-run participation has been accelerated this year thanks to the success of the new Laser-Run City Tours.
In order to be selected for the Sampa team for the World Championships, athletes need to place within 10 per cent of the average world champion’s time over the last three years.
The local South African athletes picked for the trip have come through two selection competitions, the local Gauteng Championships and the SA Championships, all placing within the top four positions nationally.
Five very proud Gauteng athletes made the stringent selection criteria are a group, including two locals, and they will represent Sampa in the upcoming UIPM World Laser-Run Championships.
The athletes are:
• U11 boys – Hurlingham resident Andreas Roos (attends Laerskool Jan Celliers)
• U13 boys – Joshua Eccles (attends St Stithians) and Matthew Hunt (attends Bryanston Primary) both from Bryanston
• U15 girls – Chloe Diedericks-Boudouris who lives in Sharonlea (attends Curro- Aurora)
• U15 boys – Marco Prins from Fairland (Hoërskool Randburg).
Chloe from Sharonlea is excited to participate in September. “I’m very excited. I’ve trained hard from the beginning of the year. I’m also looking forward to seeing Budapest.”
For Matthew from Bryanston, this will be his first international event in Europe. “I can’t wait to travel and to see Budapest – I have looked on the Internet and it looks beautiful.
“I really want to do well and I am going to put in a lot of training so I can get a medal.”
The laser-run is one of the building blocks of modern pentathlon under the governing body of the UIPM. Athletes can compete internationally on the world stage.
The sport not only requires exceptional fitness and running speed but a steady hand and eye to shoot the target. Athletes, depending on age, are required to complete multiple laps of running with the added requirement of hitting a small target five times before being able to carry on running the following lap.
