Curro Hazeldean relay team reflects on historic world record feat

The quartet of Inam Dlunge, Zattu Hlongwane, Adam Motloung, and Matodzi Ndou clocked a remarkable 39.92 seconds to take gold at the North West University Top 30 Athletics Meeting in Potchefstroom earlier this month. 

This performance eclipsed the record of 39.95 seconds previously held by an U18 USA team, and Dlunge, who ran the opening leg, expressed pride in the team’s success.

"To be honest, it's really shocking to break a record – we only practiced one day, which was the day before, so it's really mind-blowing because we only had one day to [get it right]," said Dlunge.

"It was even hours, it was around 30 minutes, and then we were done. We went there, during the warm-up we were practicing the exchanges, went to the check and then we broke the record."

The boys, schoolmates of rising South African Olympic star Bayanda Walaza and also coached by Thabo Matebedi, aimed for a national record, but were astonished to find they had broken the world record.

"We knew it was a national record, but not a world record, so we were excited for the national record, but later on we found out it was actually a world record," Dlunge added.

Matodzi, who recently also set a new national record in the under-18 hurdles, understood the need for a swift performance when he received the baton for the back straight.

"For me, there was no pressure because it was not my first time running the relay, so the only thing we had to do was just to run a fast time," said Matodzi.

"So the small conversation we had as a team was just emphasising that we should run as fast as we can, do our best, and just trust each other."

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