Last Thursday Augustus participated in a small schools track and field meet. There were a total of five schools participating. Most were around the size of Windhoek International in terms of enrollment. St. Paul's though seemed to be the dominant power. Their students won most of the events hands down and they certainly carried the overall competition by earning over five hundred points! Augustus was entered for three events. His coach, Fernando Beukes, signed him up for the high jump, an event he had never even done much less had any expertise in. He nonetheless proved to be a natural. He stood there and closely observed the other boys, who obviously had had a good deal of prior training and got out there and did it. He performed so well he earned second place. He just seemed to natually know what to do. If he missed because his feet were dragging, he immediately corrected for it. It was truly something to watch.
His coach had also signed him up for the 800 metres. We were especially worried about this event because of the high altitude here. It's over 5,000 ft and he hadn't really had the opportunity to do any kind of distance running since we live in a tiny complex surrounded by walls, fences and electric wires (as do most residents of Windhoek). He ran in his bare feet as do all the kids here. It was quite a sight. He came in third with no shoes!
He also participated in the 100 metre relay (each runner runs 100 metres before handing over the baton to a team mate). The last man injured his foot on the last leg and so they didn't fair so well---one of the disadvantages of running shoeless. What a great day for Augustus.
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