#benoninortherns50years: ‘Scrambled egg and tomato sauce’ settles debate
“Happy birthday Benoni Northerns Sports Club, may you continue to grow and serve the people of Benoni.”
Ivan Attwell is a veteran of the Benoni Northerns Sport Club (BNSC).
He joined in 1980 and has been a proud ambassador of the club for four decades.
Attwell, along with 10 other avid road runners, is the brains behind the formation of the Benoni Northerns Athletics Club (BNAC).
“I was part of a small group of runners who approached the main club’s committee at that time with the idea of forming a sub-section to primarily cater for long-distance running.
“This was agreed upon and in 1980 the BNAC was born and has formed part of the main sports club ever since.”
Roadrunners may not be popular for their sartorial elegance because of the mixture of colours in their gear. Attwell’s fondest memory was a heated meeting they had to decide the colour and design of their running kit.
Also Read: Part 2 – 1994: What was in the news in Benoni and look how cheap food was!
After a prolonged and exhausting exchange, they finally settled on a ‘scrambled egg and tomato sauce’ design.
“We had to adhere to the red, white and yellow colours of the main club. We laid the colours on the table and then a huge debate started. Many wanted yellow shorts and red tops while others wanted the opposite.
“It took us a couple of hours and I cannot remember how many beers before we finally agreed on red shorts and yellow vests with a white GT stripe running vertically down the middle. This design, with its bright colours, was commonly known as scrambled egg and tomato sauce.”
Attwell has completed 16 Comrades Marathon races in those colours. But it was Frith van der Merwe who would conquer the Ultimate Human Race in BNAC colours three times, ensuring that the club’s name was engraved in the history books of this event.
Attwell and his late wife, Madge, who was administrator of the BNAC for 18 years, have served Northerns with distinction over the years.
“Happy birthday Benoni Northerns Sports Club. May you continue to grow and serve the people of Benoni.”
Also Read: The year was 1975, meet Ted Jarvis
