Irvette gets back into running after back injury
EMMARENTIA – Elite runner uses SPAR Grand Prix as part of her training and recovery after her back injury.
It wasn’t just any run for Irvette van Zyl (34) when she stepped up to the starting line at the Joburg leg of the SPAR Grand Prix.
Withdrawing from the marathon at the Tokyo Olympics in August due to a recurrence of a bad back injury, left more than a physical mark on the elite runner.
But in a crowd of 221 runners, Van Zyl stayed with the leading runners from the start to the finish of the 10km, winding through the streets of Emmarentia and surrounds and twice completing a loop that passed through Marks Park Sports Club.
She finished in an impressive time of 34:40 and earned a podium third place.
“I keep having flashbacks to the night before the marathon in Tokyo,” Van Zyl confessed to the media after the race.
“I am grateful I can run the SPAR races as it helps my mind heal as much as my body. This injury is as much a mental one as a physical one.”
She added that she regarded the SPAR Grand Prix as much part of her training and recovery as her work with her coach.
So she was happy to grab a third-place finish as she worked her body and mind back to winning ways.
