A few years ago he was South Africa’s best junior in the 400m hurdles but a shooting accident nearly cut short his athletic career last year. Now he is back on the track and he looks forward to the rest of his career.

PC Beneke fully realizes that it does not often happen that an athlete is given a second chance to live out his dream.   The Tuks student and HPC sponsored athlete is determined, therefore, that this is the season in which he will exert himself to chase fast times in the 400-hurdles.

On 27 April last year Beneke was involved in a shooting incident on a farm in Sudwala, just outside of Nelspruit, in which he was fortunate not to have lost his left foot.  A shotgun accidently went off just centimetres in front of him and 19 of the 34 pellets ricocheted into his ankle.  He was lucky that the pellets did not penetrate any of his ligaments or his ankle bones.  The doctors who treated him were not sure at first whether or not he would be able to run competitively again.

He still has vivid memories of the shooting accident. “My friend’s dad was explaining to us how the shotgun, a brand new rifle, works when I suddenly heard a shot.  The room was totally filled with smoke and my ears were ringing. When I looked down I just saw blood at my feet but, strangely enough, I did not feel any pain at that stage. The first thing that crossed my mind was that it might be the end of my athletics career.  There was just so much blood pouring from my ankle.”

“Luckily the surgeon who operated on me managed to remove most of the pellets.  I think there might still be about three or four left.  I can feel them sometimes when I massage my ankle but I have no pain.”

“I will be honest. The shooting incident changed my whole outlook on life.  Now that I am aware that it is only by the grace of God that I am still able to run, I am not scared any longer to go full out to live my dreams.  I see it as a sign that I was meant to achieve something as an athlete.  Don’t ask me what because I don’t know.  All I know is that I feel strong during my training sessions, so hopefully 2015 will be the year when great things will happen for me,” he said.

Beneke is planning to open his season soon by either running the 200m or 400m at a league meeting.

“My plan at the moment is to run my first 400-hurdles race in March. I must admit that I am slightly nervous to start racing again because I don’t know what to expect. It is one thing to train but quite something else to race.”

The rivalry between a fully fit Beneke and Cornel Fredericks (Commonwealth Champion) could be one of the highlights of the season. The two of them have been rivals since they were both under-12.  Beneke beat Fredericks at that year’s South African Youth Championships but Fredericks won at the next year’s South African Junior Championships.

“The 400-hurdles could also make for exciting racing because LJ van Zyl and Wouter le Roux will certainly be in contention each time they race,” Beneke predicted.