Newton ready for life in the fast lane
Tommy Ballantyne
February 08 2007 at 02:14PM
Tommy Ballantyne
South Africa’s first track athlete to break the 10-second barrier for the 100m sprint, Lee-Roy Newton, is already beginning to experience what life is like in the fast lane.
Ever since the news got out last Saturday afternoon that he had been timed at 9.95 seconds in winning the men’s 100m at the KwaZulu-Natal senior provincial track and field championships at Durban’s King’s Park Athletic Stadium, his cellphone has hardly stopped ringing.
“Just about everyone has called in to congratulate me,” said the 28-year-old full-time athlete, who was born in Port Elizabeth but who came to Durban seven years ago to be trained by Athletics South Africa (ASA) sprint coach Mark Labuschagne.
‘I’ve done my bit’
For the past two or three days all his spare time has been spent in assisting officials at KwaZulu-Natal Athletics complete all the documentation necessary to apply to ASA for the ratification of a national track record.
The official ASA record for the 100m stands at 10.06 seconds and was set in 1988 by Johan Rossouw.
Meanwhile, Newton has also been getting on with his normal track training load, interspersed with visits to the gym and his physiotherapist.
“I’ve done my bit,” he said.
“I mean, I’ve run my race, I’ve done the time, now the ratification process must run its own course and we just have to wait and see whether or not it is accepted by ASA officials.
‘I knew it was a very fast race’
“I want to feel excited about what I have done, but Mark has advised me to put it to the back of my mind and to focus on my training, which is good advice, because it’s out of my hands, isn’t it?”
Newton said that from what he could gather from KwaZulu-Natal Athletics, everything appeared to be in order.
Labuschagne said that on Saturday he had been impressed by how KwaZulu-Natal Athletics officials, including Aleck Skhosana (President) and Joyce Smith (General Manager) had seen to it immediately afterwards that certain practical procedures were in place for the ratification of a national record.
“They saw to it that the electronic timing device was checked, that the software had been correctly interpreted, that the wind gauge had been checked and the wind speed at the time of the race recorded, and that all the bits and pieces had been done by the book,” said Labuschagne.
“They even accompanied Lee-Roy across to the Absa rugby stadium next door to be dope-tested by the medical team that were there for the Sharks against Bulls game which was about to start.”
Newton said that on the day of the race the conditions had been brilliant for a fast time.
“It was so hot, around the mid-thirties I guess, and humid with very little wind about the stadium.
“I cruised through the qualifying heat in 10.82, coming second, to save most of my energy for the final and when the time for that came around I was feeling in a good state of mind and very relaxed.”
Newton said he had been a little wary at the start as he had false-started the first time and had made sure he waited for the gun to go off for the second start.
“I knew it was a very fast race,” said Newton, “and everything seemed to fall into place from when I came out of the starting blocks until I breasted the tape.”
As he flashed across the finish line he was virtually inseparable from his Fast Feet clubmate and training partner, Dean Wicks, who was timed at an equally impressive 10.00 seconds dead.
What Newton was not to know at that very moment when the finish was recorded was that he had run the 100m in 9.95 seconds and that quite possibly from that moment on, should this time be ratified, his life would be transformed.
“It’s a life-changing time,” he said, “but I am prepared for it. It’s what I have been working towards ever since I became a full-time athlete. I have always believed that one day I would get through the 10-second barrier and throughout my track career, although I have often run world-class times in training, I have unfortunately never quite been able to reproduce these times in competition. It’s a mental thing, I seem to put pressure on myself in these situations which is detrimental to my performance.
“But Mark has always stood by me and encouraged me, and I guess he always knew that one day I would do something big.”
Newton was raised in Port Elizabeth by his mother, who made many sacrifices to see that her son got an education and could pursue his dream to be a professional athlete.
At school, he mainly played soccer and before he left in 1996 had gained representative honours for Eastern Province Schools and the provincial Under-20 team.
He also dabbled in long jump and triple jump in
between his track activities but things did not go well for him at the local technikon, where he was enrolled for a course in graphic design.
“I could not fully concentrate on my track training and my studies frustrated me,” he said.
“So I quit, and that’s when I decided to make the move to Durban to be close to Mark, whom I had met a few times on the athletics circuit.
“It was the best move I ever made.”
He recalls that only a couple of years ago he was sidelined with a tendon injury that kept him off the track for nearly eight long months.
“I really could not afford to pay for all the reconstructive physiotherapy that I required and was on the verge of quitting,” he said.
“But Mark and my physio and others at the King’s Park Medical Centre rallied round me and made it possible for me to make a full recovery and to get me where I am today.”
Newton reckons that being a full-time athlete is one of the most demanding sports of all, as hours are spent daily training on the track or working out in the gym for little reward.
Every European summer, between May and September Newton competes on the European athletics circuit.
He has a German-based agent who plans his itinerary and negotiates for him to run at certain meetings, sometimes two a week, from which he hopefully receives appearance fees, prize money for coming in the first four places and bonuses linked to his time performances.
But it is hard work being on the road and trying to save for a rainy day.
“My mother and other family members have also all made sacrifices for me,” said Newton, “and it is to them that I am indebted, as well as to my coach, Mark, one of the best athletic coaches in the business when it comes to sprinting and technique.
“He too, and his family, have had to make many sacrifices so that he could continue coaching despite the lack of regular funding.”
As Newton ponders his future his thoughts are not too far removed from the next couple of meetings he will attend.
But before that, he will wait anxiously to see if his 9.95 time is ratified by ASA. Should it be, then he will join an elite group of around 50 sprinters who have also broken through the 10-second barrier in the history of world athletics and he will also be in line for an ASA incentive bonus of R50 000 for any athlete who breaks a South African record.
Then his lifestyle is really in for a shake-up.
