Irvette van Zyl runs personal best time at altitude
Local athlete, Irvette van Zyl, is back at her best and hopes to qualify for the Olympic Games in more than one item soon.
Irvette van Zyl (Nedbank) started her Olympic campaign with a bang this weekend when she won the George Claassen 10km in 33 minutes and 30 seconds.
“It was the fastest I have ever finished a race. I clocked 2:58.00 for the 9th kilometre. My time for the final kilometre was 3:03.00. It was a total surprise. I did not expect to be so fast at this stage, especially because I am still busy doing ‘donkey work’. I have not even started training on the track,” said a jubilant Van Zyl who is also an hpc-sponsored athlete.
Her winning time is a personal best for a 10km race run at altitude. In 2014 she won a Spar Race in 33:32.
Van Zyl said jokingly there may be something to say for the hormonal change experienced by a woman after giving birth. Louis, the son of Irvette and her husband, LJ van Zyl (the Olympic 400m-hurdler) was born in September last year.
“Or maybe it is merely a case of being really hungry to succeed after being unable to race for most of last year.”
One can only wonder what Van Zyl’s time would have been over the weekend if she had raced at sea level.
“I spoke to my coach, Lindsey Parry (head coach at hp), and we are in agreement that I might have run a time faster than 32 minutes. But of course it is only speculation. I will have to go out and do it.”
Van Zyl’s overall best 10km time is the 32:50 she ran in Durban in 2011.
“Although running 33:30 is a good confidence booster, it is important for me not to get too carried away. I fully realise that there is still much hard work to be done before I will be ready to qualify for the Olympic Games. From February I will have to combine training for the 10 000 metres as well as for the marathon”, she said.
On Sunday Van Zyl will be competing in the Johnson Crane 21km in Johannesburg. She said it will be only a tempo run.
If everything goes according to plan, Van Zyl hopes to qualify for the Olympic marathon in London on 24 April.
She plans an attempt to qualify for the 10 000 metres at an earlier stage, but that may prove to be tricky because there are not that many local 10 000m races for women at sea-level.
The 10 000m event at the South African Championships in Stellenbosch will be on 16 April. This causes a slight dilemma for Van Zyl, because she also wants to compete in a Spar 10km race in Cape Town the next day. It will be almost impossible for her to be competitive in both these races.
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