SA sisters shine on all fronts

One sport, two sisters, three continents ...  it’s a little-known tale about two of SA’s talented sporting siblings and how they’ve followed in each other’s footsteps almost since they took their first steps.

A glance at the results of the recent world cross-country championships in Bathurst, Australia, shows Kyla Jacobs finishing in 37th and Aynslee van Graan one back — second and third South Africans respectively behind Cian Oldknow, who was 27th.

The broader SA public would have no clue that they are sisters whose athletics careers have been intertwined since primary school.

“We started in primary school, running the 1,200m event,” says Jacobs, now 28, and 14 months older than sister Aynslee (now Minnaar but still competing under her maiden name).

“We have a very special relationship, have always had. Our sporting, educational and personal careers have always been so closely related.

“We’re each other’s biggest rivals and biggest supporters at the same time, right through Affies [Afrikaanse Hoër Meisieskool] in Pretoria and then on to university in the US.”

Both attended CCU (Coastal Carolina University) in Myrtle Beach, US, where SA distance running legend Zola Pieterse would become head athletics coach. Kyla completed a business management degree, followed by an MBA.

Now she’s a high-powered business development manager at a multinational company, the PBT Group, and based in Cape Town where husband Rihan is a regular training partner.

Aynslee completed a fine arts degree at CCU before returning to SA, getting married and then emigrating to Australia where her husband took up a new position in the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

She takes up the story: “Kyla’s always motivated me. She started making provincial teams, so then I wanted to do the same. One of my greatest moments was when we made our first national team together, as juniors at the African cross-country championships in 2012 in Cape Town.

“Just over 10 years later we once again lined up together at a multinational event, it was really special.”

She was unable to attend the SA cross-country trials but ran a blinder at the Australian national track championships, clocking a personal best of 32 min 47 sec for the 10,000m, as well as running as many local cross-country events as possible to be included in the SA team.

Back to Kyla: “We’ve always been so close and when we aren’t together we can often see that our athletics suffers as a result. Like when I moved up to Grade 8 at school and Ayns had to wait a year.

“And then it was my turn to wait for a year at college before she was able to join me.”

Like so many people around the world, the pandemic tested many relationships. “Ayns moved to Australia in 2020 which meant she missed my wedding, which was really heartbreaking.”

Aynslee agreed wholeheartedly: “We never knew it would be so long and it was really tough being apart for so long, especially because we’re so close and it was only late in 2022 that we got to see each other in person again.”

Their personal relationships is palpably obvious: “It’s truly special,” says Kyla. “Though we’re so far apart, each and every evening before I go bed she video-calls me and then every morning when I wake up I video-call her.”

That care and compassion carried over to this year’s world championships, run just over 200km from Aynslee’s new home city.

She says: “It was such a full-circle moment for us to run together nationally even though we hit the wall a few times, just knowing that Kyla was there was reassuring. She insisted on giving me water during our 10km race.

“In hindsight, I know now that if I hadn’t taken that water I would probably have ended up with heatstroke like so many of the other girls. She was mostly helping me but we basically helped each other.

“To finish 37th and 38th, 10 sec apart in a field of just under 100 athletes was so special. Of course, I’m sad I wasn’t 37th but we’ll battle it out again,” she says in typically competitive fashion.

On a family level she gets more serious. “Kyla’s always been the caring one. I’ve always relied on her.”

She takes a moment to think: “Actually she’s more a mom than a sister, not only to me but even to so many other girls in sport. She always takes control at looking after everyone.

“I’ll probably always be dependent on her in some way and hopefully she’ll like me depending on her.”

Her daily job sees her working much of the week at Pace Athletics, a specialist running store while she also has her own training group of athletes at her club Runcrew.

“Long term I can see myself going into marathons [maybe after kids] but I still have to beat Kyla’s 5km best,” she says. No pressure, because Kyla was recently crowned SA 5,000m champion at the national championships in Potchefstroom.

Roemelia van Graan is one proud mother: “Their lives have revolved around athletics, the one constantly inspiring the other, depending on who was battling or injured at the time.

“Aynslee’s bag was always full of extra socks and plasters because someone had left something at home, she always made provision for the other athletes.

“And then Kyla used to be very anxious but it was so good to see her overcome it and as she grew older throwing her heart and soul into both work and athletics. 

“They have an incredible bond ... Aynslee always preferred sport to academics but she’s adapted so well on all fronts in a strange country and is doing really well, even though Kyla’s so far away.”

Canadian novelist Gilbert Parker famously wrote: “Love knows not distance; it hath no continent; its eyes are for the stars.” 

He could have had the Van Graan stars in his thoughts as he penned those words.