The first stop of this year’s Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) Sub-Youth Track and Field League on September 21 got a nasty dose of winter weather in spring. However, the athletes defied the icy conditions to entertain the crowd inside the Germiston Stadium.
With temperatures hovering at about 5.5°C, the quality on the track and field made this cold and wet competition significant.
One of the brightest spots was East Athletic Club (EAC)’s Mahlatse Mamonyane’s victory in the U11 girls’ 1 200m. She got off the blocks the fastest and kept her closest competitor, Mia Ingelthorpe of Fitness for Africa (FFA), at bay for much of the three laps.
With Ingelthorpe tailing her and digging deep to find a way past her with 200m to the finish, Mamonyane looked over her shoulder and unleashed a kick that propelled her to victory in 04:03.47.
Ingelthorpe came second in 04:06.01.
“It was a cold race. I kept my pace and tried to keep up with her as best as I could. She’s a very talented runner. I hope to be where she is,” Ingelthorpe said after the race.
Mamonyane, who won the national cross-country 3km title in her category earlier this month, said it was too early to predict how she would fare this season.
“It’s the first league. I’m taking it a day at a time. We’ll see how things go,” she said.
The Benoni Northerns’ Tamica Lloyd came second in the U13 girls 1 500m in 05:34.30 and was third in the 800m in 02:37.85, while younger sister Shayla clocked 02:23.53 for seventh place in the U11 girls’ 600m. The EAC’s Likhona Kubayi won the race, cutting the tape in 02:15.99.
Bontle Makgalemele finished second in the U7 girls’ 80m sprint in 13.81, while her Northerns teammate, Tehembelihle Mahungela, won the U13 girls’ 200m sprint in 27.82. The Bokburg Athletic Club (BAC)’s Anshin Lubbe came third in 29.43.
Lubbe was also fourth in the U13 girls’ long jump, with a leap of 4.19m.
On the field, the BAC’s Lanelda Herbst began her season with two podium placings. She was third in the U13 girls’ shotput after throwing 10.17m and threw 26.80m for second place in the discus.
Heike Duvenage of Northerns was third in the U13 girls’ javelin with a throw of 22.65m, behind winner Janika Theron (27.17) and Trinity Henning (26.49) of Irun AC.
Boys
Northerns’ Siyanda Madlabane (04:48.84) finished second behind the formidable Indiphile Myeki in the U13 boys’ 1 500m, and teammate Bokamoso Nonyane (04:05.30) was also second in his category.
Zandreh van der Merwe was fifth in the U13 boys’ 800m. Joshua Broughton and Kaidan Aspden were eighth and ninth, respectively, in the same race.
Aaron Ani clocked 13.82 for third place in the U7 boys’ 80m sprint.
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