Benoni’s 2016 sporting highlights (July to December)

July

• The Eastern Gauteng Hockey Association (EGHA) AstroTurf and St Dunstan’s College AstroTurf allowed for the EGHA’s first accredited South African Hockey Association (SAHA) tournament, the South African Ladies Country Districts Tournament, to take place in the region. The tournament got underway on Sunday, July 3, and ran until Friday, July 8. Western Province would win the tournament.

• Local junior open water swimmer Hein van Tonder was selected as part of a 10-member strong team that will represent South Africa at the Fina World Junior Open Water Swimming Championships, held in Hoorn, in the Netherlands, from July 16 to 18.

• Free State golfer Lumien Orton won the Sanlam South African Women’s Amateur Championship at Ebotse Links on Wednesday, July 13.

• Ebotse Links and Ekurhuleni Junior Golf Union talent Jayden Schaper (15) produced moments of brilliance to win two u-19 tournaments via play-off victories in the space of a week to win the Nomads National Order of Merit (NOoM) at Modderfontein Golf Club and then produced a nerveless display to defeat Ge-Rico Muller at the third hole of a sudden-death play-off to scoop the Tshwane Junior Open title at Pretoria Country Club on Friday, July 15.

• The Benoni Northerns Junior Hockey Club (BNJH) Tournament took place on the morning of Saturday, July 23 where well over 1 000 eager young hockey players were participating and playing the sport. The annual tournament attracted junior hockey players, in the u-5 to u-13 age groups, from all across Johannesburg including developmental sides.

August

• The good news kept on coming for Ekurhuleni Junior Golfer and Ebotse Links’ talent Jayden Schaper in August after an announcement by the South African Golf Association (SAGA) that he would be one of four of South Africa’s top junior golfers who would represent the country at the 10th Reply Italian International U-16 Championship at Golf Club Biella at the end of the month.

• Pretoria amateur Philip Kruse savoured the outcome of a memorable week in Benoni after he pieced together a final round one-under-par 71 to claim a maiden breakthrough in the IGT Tour’s Ebotse Challenge on Wednesday, August 3.

• Hardus Maritz, the superintendent at Ebotse Links, was invited to participate in the John Deere Classic Pro-Am, over the TPC Deere Run course, in Silvis, Illinois, USA, on August 8.

• Absa Premier Soccer League (PSL) club Free State Stars Football Club once again made Benoni Northerns their pre-season base camp ahead of the upcoming 2016/2017 PSL season.

• Clear skies greeted riders and spectators alike when the fifth round of the South African Jetsport Boating Association’s (SAJSBA) 2016 National Jet Ski Racing Series was held at the East Rand Speed Boat Club (ERSC) on the morning of Saturday, August 6.

• In a rare occurrence, the Benoni Northerns men’s first hockey team had their Southern Gauteng Hockey Association (SGHA) Men’s Winter Performance Reserve League fixture, against Bedfordview, rescheduled to Benoni and Eastern Gauteng territory, at the St Dunstan’s College’s AstroTurf on Sunday, August 21. The team made use of this opportunity and emerged as 4-1 victors.

• The second Benoni Football Derby of the 2016 ELFA Super League season between the first teams of Old Bens and Benoni Northerns football clubs ended in a 1-1 draw on Saturday, August 27 at Old Bens.

September

• The Gauteng Province Baseball Council’s (GPBC) 2016 winter baseball season culminated with senior cup and shield finals at Benoni Northerns Indian Ball Club’s diamonds on Sunday, September 4. The Indians’ Benoni 2 team faced arch-rivals Kempton Park Red Sox in what is always a hotly competitive affair in the cup final. The Benoni 2 team whose performance, a 25-2 mauling (via mercy rule), over Red Sox will long be remembered at the club.

• A formal reciprocity agreement was signed between the Benoni Country Club (BCC) and Daveyton Golf Club on Friday, September 2. The agreement allows members of the respective clubs full reciprocity at each facility, where they will be entitled to members’ green fees and other benefits given to both clubs’ members at their facilities.

• Round six of the South African Jetsport Boating Association’s (SAJSBA) 2016 National Jet Ski Racing Series came to the Rynfield Dam on Saturday, September 3. Benonian Jared Moore claimed three championships in the final SAJSBA national championship standings. Moore finished in the first place in the Pro Runabout Open, Pro Runabout Stock, Enduro Stock and Enduro Open classes.

• A provisional 41-man squad of development rugby players was selected for the Valke Rugby Union after three weeks of Legends Cup action concluded at St Dunstan’s College on Saturday, September 3.

• Benoni’s South African national canoe polo player Nicholas Weeks flew the flag for the country at the International Canoe Federation’s (ICF) Canoe Polo World Championships held in Syracuse, Italy.

• Benoni Sailing Club celebrated the opening of the new sailing season on Sunday, September 4 at Homestead Dam.

• Benoni Northerns Junior Hockey Club’s (BNJH) u-13 boys’ team brought home a bronze medal, after finishing third at the Southern Gauteng Junior Hockey Association’s (SGJHA) u-13 Champion of Champions tournament, on Saturday, September 10.

• Benoni Northerns Athletics Club’s (BNAC) Dieter Stapel and Barry Kendall were paid homage for their Comrades Marathon achievements, on the night of Wednesday, September 21, at BNAC’s 12th annual Green Number function. Stapel achieved his double green number this year, after completing his 20th Comrades, while Kendall earned his place in the prestigious Green Number Club after crossing the line at Kingsmead Cricket Stadium, in May, to finish his 10th Comrades.

• A record One Day International (ODI) opening partnership at Sahara Park Willowmoore of 159 runs in 24 overs, between Quinton de Kock and pint-sized ODI debutant Temba Bavuma, helped the Proteas to a 206-run thrashing of Ireland on Sunday, September 25.

• A second ODI in the space of two days came to Sahara Park Willowmoore on Tuesday, September 27. World champions Australia thrashed the Irish by nine wickets. It would be the only win on tour for the Australians as they would later be whitewashed 5-0 by the Proteas in their ODI series.

• Ebotse Links professional Dean O’Riley captured the IGT Tour’s Killarney Challenge in swashbuckling style, to cap a brilliant week at Killarney Country Club, on Thursday, September 29.

October

• The first deliveries of the 2016/2017 Eastern Cricket Union’s Premier League were bowled on Sunday, October 2. Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) Premier XI opened with a seven-wicket bonus point win versus Tembisa while Actonville Spurs lost by 86 runs to Alberton.

• Northmead Tennis Club and Gauteng East senior tennis player Kathy Nevay (77) captained a team of South African senior tennis players at the ITF Super-Seniors World Team Championships, in Croatia.

• About 40 boats participated in the opening ceremony of the boating season, at the East Rand Speedboat Club (ERSC), at Rynfield Dam, on Sunday, October 2.

• Benoni professional golfer Dean O’Riley ran up an IGT Tour double just a week after his first win this season in the Killarney Challenge when he coasted to success in the Race to Q-School number one event on Wednesday, October 5 at ERPM Golf Club in Boksburg.

• The South African K1 River Championships, the Hansa Fish River Canoe Marathon, took place on the Fish River, on the weekend of Friday, October 7 and Saturday, October 8. Benoni’s Liam Stewart (17), of Ekurhuleni Kayak Club (ERK), was the top junior Gauteng finisher, the top u-18, the top ERK finisher and the 42nd K1 (singles) finisher.

• Talented kart racer Delon Thompson (16) won the South African National Karting Championship in the senior Rotax 125cc class and subsequently booked his seat in the Rotax World Finals, in Naples, Italy, at the Sarno International Karting Circuit.

• Lakefield resident JP Buys defeated Durban’s Badwin Mdlalose to become the youngest fighter in Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) history to win a title, at EFC 54 at Sun City on the night of Saturday, October 15.

• After a gruelling up-and-down injury-plagued year, Rynfield’s Slade Smith (15) managed to finish second in the Motorsport South Africa (MSA) South African National Motocross Championship, on his ABE Midas 125cc Husqvarna.

• Northmead resident Justin Broughton (46), racing in the masters’ category, placed second and overall third for the season at the final race of the Liquorland National Enduro Series in Heidelberg, on Saturday, October 15.

November

• Pretoria amateur golfer Ruan Conradie called his wire-to-wire victory in the Race to Q-School’s fifth event, at Ebotse Links, from Monday, October 31, to Wednesday, November 2, “a real rite of passage”.

• The Eastern Premier League clash between Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) Premier XI and old adversaries Kempton Park, on Sunday, November 6, at Northern Areas, can best be described as a club cricket classic. Northerns defended a target of 228 runs by a single run against their archrivals.

• SuperSport United striker and Benoni High School old boy, Bradley Grobler, returned to the Bafana Bafana set-up after a long absence in national men’s football coach Shakes Mashaba’s team for the must-win 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifier against Senegal at Polokwane’s Peter Mokaba Stadium on Saturday, November 12. He would go on to score a goal in a friendly match with Mozambique a few days later.

• After two years of clear skies, it was only a matter of time before weather once again impacted on the Rowlin National Glow Run. A big Highveld storm hit Benoni in the late afternoon/early evening on Wednesday, November 2 and kept a number of prospective runners at bay. The race, organised by Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC), was delayed by 15 minutes as organisers waited for the threat posed by lightning to ease down. When the races commenced, it was Nedbank Running Club’s Tumelo Mahlangu who crossed the finish line first in the 15km race. In the women’s 15km, it was Rockies runner Tshifiwa Malobola who came in first place.

• Benoni Northerns Sports Club’s auspicious annual Sportsperson of the Year awards took place at the club’s main hall on Saturday night, November 12. Baseball player Bradleigh Peeters (who was a nominee at last year’s awards) finally scooped the esteemed Sportsperson of the Year Award. Footballer Kwanda Sokutu won the Junior Sportsperson of the Year Award.

December

• Benoni lawn bowlers Thinus Oelofse and Colleen Piketh (both from Rynfield) were both in action at the World Bowls Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand.

• The South African International Badminton Championships presented by Badminton South Africa (BSA) and hosted by the Eastern Gauteng Badminton Association (EGBA) and the Ekurhuleni metro, came to the courts of John Barrable Hall from Thursday, December 1 to Sunday, December 4. South Africa’s own Olympian Jacob Maliekal won the men’s singles event.

• Cricket South Africa’s (CSA) Momentum u-17 National Cricket Week comes to the Eastern Cricket Union region from Sunday, December 11 to Thursday, December 15.

• Jethro Eustice (27), former Benoni Northerns Junior Hockey player and former Arbor Primary learner, was in action with the South African men’s indoor hockey side at the 2016 Pro Series Indoor (PSi) Greenfields Indoor Series against the International All Stars, in Cape Town, during a four-match series which took place from December 10 to 14.

• Former Kids Haven resident Bokang Masunyane (22) made his professional MMA debut in the first fight of the evening at EFC 56 at Carnival City on Friday, December 9. He celebrated a first round win over Musaddiq Alli Hasan via submission (kimura), two minutes and 20 seconds into the round.

• Benoni brothers, Alphen Park residents and endurance motorcycle riders Robert (23) and Calvin Garvie (26) made good on their promise to complete the brutal Gold Class of the gruelling Roof of Africa in the rugged mountainous terrain of the Kingdom of Lesotho for the first time, from November 30 to December 3.