The year that was: A review of 2018’s Benoni sport highlights (January to June 2018)

The calendar year 2018 has yet again been a busy one for Benoni’s numerous sportspeople on the local, national and international stages.

There were stories of superb success and times of failure.

The year 2018 was one filled with all the emotions that make sport unique.

Many young sporting talents also emerged, boding well for Benoni sport for years to come.

The town itself also played host to an array of sporting events, proving that Benoni has an essential role to play in the development of South African sporting champions.

This is Benoni’s 2018 sports year in review (from January to June):

January

• Freddie Spencer from Western Province held off some of South Africa’s top junior talent to score a memorable first national victory in the Nomads National Order of Merit Inland event at Benoni Country Club (BCC) on January 5.

• Maiden centuries by Andrea Agathangelou and Rivaldo Moonsamy set the Titans on their way to a massive 104-run bonus-point win over the Warriors in a Momentum One-Day Cup clash at Willowmoore Park on January 7.

• The Ebotse Mile Swim returned to Benoni’s Rynfield Dam on January 14. Swimmers took to the drink at Rynfield Dam to earn their seeding position at the ever-popular Midmar Mile event. Seven swimming events took place over the course of the day.

• The 36th running of the Johnson Crane road running and walking event was held from Willowmoore Park on January 28 and attracted a record number of participants. According to Ashvin Jivan, chairman of the organising club Benoni Harriers Athletic Club (BHAC), well in excess of 14 500 runners completed the colourful event. The men’s 42km record was broken in a time of two hours, 20 minutes and 16 seconds, by Rocky Road Runners’ Puleng Petrus Maeko, previously held by Charles Tjiane who achieved a time of two hours, 23 minutes and 46 seconds. Veteran Charné Bosman (Nedbank Running Club), women’s winner of the 2016 Comrades Marathon down run, was the first woman home in the marathon. She stormed in to finish with a time of two hours, 54 minutes and 59 seconds.

February

• The first Benoni football derbies of the season between Old Bens and Benoni Northerns football clubs were played at Currin Park on February 3 in the Eastern Local Football Association’s (ELFA) pre-season Senior Super League and Super Reserve League Top Eight competition. The opening derby between coach Dave Clark’s Old Bens Reserve XI and coach Darren Lee’s Northerns Reserve XI ended in a 1-1 draw. The first team match-up between coach Raymond Cloete’s Old Bens First XI and coach Jannie van den Berg’s Northerns ended in a 2-1 victory for the hosts.

• The 2018 Ekurhuleni Closed Championship was played at the Benoni Country Club (BCC) on February 4. Jordan Burnand of Ebotse Links won the prestigious title shooting rounds of 69 and 69 (total of 138) ahead of Benoni Country Club’s Ryan van Velzen who shot rounds of 73 and 71 (total of 144).

• A contingent of 18 paddlers from the Homestead Dam-based Ekurhuleni Kayak Club (ERK) headed to Pietermaritzburg for the three-day, 120km test on the Msunduzi and Mgeni rivers. Some made it to the finish at Blue Lagoon in Durban while others succumbed to the strenuous demands of the biggest canoeing event on the African continent. Finishers from ERK were Tommy Booth and Pieter Engelbrecht (80th position), Gavin Payne and Douglas Jewson (96th position), Jarryd Breeds and Richard Tandy (227th position), Peter Dunnett and partner (242th position), Vallon Kupferberg and Miguel Simoes (283rd position), Leon Maritz and Bob Harvey (362nd position). The following K1 (single) paddlers finished the Dusi: Chris de Bree (33rd K1), Terrence Galloway (46th K1) and Raymond Davidson (68th K1).

• Four-second innings wickets from Australian paceman Mitchell Starc were the highlight of the third day’s play on February 24 in the warm-up clash between captain Steve Smith’s team and South Africa A at Willowmoore Park. The match was played from February 22 to February 24 at Benoni’s cricket stadium. The Australians emerged victorious by five wickets. The warm-up match would be the precursor to a controversial tour of South Africa for the Australians. Captain Steve Smith, David Warner and Cameron Bancroft were embroiled in a ball-tampering scandal and banned for a year by Cricket Australia after the latter was caught by television cameras using sandpaper to change the condition of the ball in the third Test match against the Proteas in Cape Town.

• Coach Raymond Cloete and his Old Bens Football Club Senior Super League XI got their hands on the Eastern Local Football Association’s (ELFA) pre-season Top Eight competition trophy with a 3-2 victory over Luso Africa in the final on February 24.

March

• Local rivals Benoni Northerns and Actonville Spurs cricket clubs met in an Eastern Premier League derby at Lords Cricket Grounds in Actonville on March 4. Northerns managed to achieve a win with a bonus point, 87-run win over their hosts.

• Two of Benoni’s oldest and proudest sports clubs joined forces in March when Benoni Harriers Athletic Club (BHAC) moved to the Benoni Country Club (BCC) after being based at Old Benonians Sports Club for over three decades. On the evening of March 5, BHAC ran their first club run from their new home base.

• Ebotse Links held its annual club championships, the 10th summer club championships at the course, over the weekend of March 3 and 4. Jayden Schaper (16) finished on 138 gross (six-under par) for the two days to finally claim his first club champs win. It was a club championship that will be remembered for the rise of future stars such as Kiera Floyd (13), who soared above the rest to win the women’s club championship title with a gross score of 146.

• The Lake Club Benoni also held its annual club championships over the weekend of March 3 and 4. The men’s and women’s Lake Club champions for 2018 are Kyle Opperman (143 gross scores) and Candise Wort (151 gross scores).

• At the Benoni Country Club’s its annual club championships, also held over the weekend of March 3 and 4, it was Ryan van Velzen (16) who claimed the men’s club champion title while Alice Rich took the title of Women’s Club Champion for 2018.

• The highly anticipated match-up between former Kids Haven resident Bokang ‘Little Giant’ Masunyane and England’s Coner Hignett took place at EFC 67 at Carnival City’s Big Top Arena on March 10. In the third round Masunyane attempted a striking attack, but quickly felt the superiority of the Englishman, and reverted to his preferred ground dominance, grinding out an enthralling unanimous decision win.

• Local fans, young and old, of English Premier League side Liverpool FC enjoyed a terrific treat when three Anfield legends visited Old Bens Football Club on Human Rights Day, March 21, to assist at a holiday coaching clinic. The trio of former Liverpool stars John Barnes, Steve McManaman and Robbie Fowler, came to South Africa for a three-day stint to pay homage to Nelson Mandela in the year of what would have been his 100th birthday as part of the #Liverpool4Madiba experience.

• The Bridge Fund Junior Series was played at Benoni Country Club (BCC) on March 18. Young Ryan van Velzen again performed on home turf. After carding a 69 gross score over the 18-hole event, Van Velzen found himself tied for the top spot with Victoria Country Club golfer Nikhil Gopal. The two youngsters entered a sudden death play-off but, after four exciting holes, bad light stopped play. Van Velzen was awarded the top honours on count-out.

• Exciting Benoni High School Athletic Club talent and Benoni High School learner Casey Bosman achieved a goal of representing her country in international cross-country competition. The 17-year-old competed in the 6km junior woman race at the Confederation of African Athletics’ Cross-Country Championships in Chlef, Algeria, on March 17 where she lined up against some top African competitors.

April

• South Africa’s number one ranked junior golfer Jayden Schaper of Ebotse Links collected the Junior Amateur of the Year Award at the GolfRSA and Sunshine Tour Awards ceremony at the Maslow Hotel, having completed an unprecedented sweep of the SA Boys’ titles.

• Benoni Small Farms resident and show-jumping star Nicola Sime-Riley, owner of Sunny Park Stables, could not reclaim her 2017 South African Outdoor Grand Prix title at the 2018 Nissan Easter Festival held at Kyalami Equestrian Park on Family Day. The Benonian, riding her horse Sunny Park Stables Elpaso, finished runner-up to Ronnie Lawrence, riding Gillian van Orshof, after three gruelling rounds at the showpiece event.

• Rynfield resident Colleen Piketh brought back a bronze medal and a silver medal from the Commonwealth Games on Australia’s Gold Coast. She earned bronze after victory over Canada’s Kelly McKerihen in the singles bronze medal play-off on March 8. She then finished as runner-up with partner Nicolene Neal in the pairs final against Malaysia on March 13. Other Benonians who were involved at the Commonwealth Games were Jethro Eustice (hockey), Ruhan Nel (Sevens rugby), Pierre Basson (air rifle shooting) and Michelle Butler-Emmett (badminton).

• It was not to be for Benoni Northerns Cricket Club’s (BNCC) Eastern Premier League XI in the play-off final against rivals Kempton Park Cricket Club at Willowmoore Park’s main oval on April 8. The team lost by four wickets to a powerhouse Kempton Park outfit which included a number of players with provincial caps to their names.

• It was unquestionably the toughest test of her golf career, but when the chips were down, 18-year-old Casandra Hall of Ebotse Links held her nerve to box a clutch par putt in extra time that earned her the 2018 Sanlam South Africa Stroke Play Championship title on April 24.

• The 2018 Robor Scaffolding Marathon organised by Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC) on April 29 was a successful event. The road race which saw runners and walkers take to the streets in either the 5km fun run, 10km, 21.1km (half-marathon), 42.2km (full marathon) and 50km ultra marathon distances, attracted 3 384 participants. In the 50km ultra race, it was Malose Mabote of Rainbow Athletic Club who stormed in with a quick time of three hours, 13 minutes and 33 seconds. In the women’s 50km field it was a familiar face who claimed top honours as Born 2 Run’s Salomé Cooper clocked in at the finish line at three hours and 38 minutes. In the full marathon, it was Entsika’s Edwin Khonkhobe who tasted the joy of victory. Khonkhobe ran his race in two hours, 29 minutes and 17 seconds to finish top of the pile. Janine Rawlinson of Wanderers was the first woman across the line in the 42km marathon.

• A new Extreme Fighting Championship (EFC) bantamweight champion was crowned at EFC 69 at Carnival City on April 28 when Lakefield’s JP Buys defeated France’s Philippe Rouch.

May

• The Eastern Cricket Union’s club franchise T20 tournament, the Battle of the Roses, got going at Willowmoore Park on May 4 and ran until May 6. In the men’s competition, eight franchise teams (four teams per two pools), made up of a mix of drafted club players from around the union, battled it out for a spot in the final on May 6. Four women’s teams fought it out over the weekend as well. The Sluggers men’s franchise won the Battle of the Roses, after an incredible victory over the Jets in the final on the main oval at Willowmoore Park. The Wildfire franchise won the women’s version after victory over the Samurai franchise.

• Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC) continued their tradition of forming a bus of all the runners from the club at the end of the Colgate Road Race, hosted by the Boksburg Athletic Club, at the Boksburg Stadium on May 6. The bus is formed to celebrate the last road race of the season ahead of the Comrades Marathon on June 10.

• The Eastern Nomads celebrated their 40th anniversary with dinner at the Benoni Country Club on May 18 followed by their monthly golf game at the club the following day.

• The Color Run event series dubbed the ‘Happiest 5k on the planet’, came to Benoni Northerns Sports Club for a second time on May 20. The Color Run is a 5km, untimed event in which thousands of participants, or Color Runners, are doused from head to toe in different colours at each kilometre.

• The multi-sport Arnold Classics Africa 2018 Championships were held from May 18 to 20 at the Sandton Convention Centre. Lakefield’s Aslam Mahomed, an executive member of Martial Arts South Africa and executive member of the South African Kickboxing Association, was awarded for his dedication to the development and upliftment of sport by Gideon Sam, president of the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).

• Chris Cannon from England holed a chip-shot at the second extra hole to win the IGT Challenge Tour #5 at The Lake Club Benoni on May 30.

June

• Ekurhuleni Kayak Club (ERK), based at Homestead Dam, hosted the Gauteng Canoe Union Marathon Championships races over the weekend of June 2 and 3

• The first league Benoni football derby of the season was played between Old Bens and Benoni Northerns football clubs at Currin Park on June 9. Old Bens’ Reserve team won 2-1 in the early match and were also winners in the Super League clash by a 3-2 scoreline.

• The 2018 Comrades Marathon 90.184km down run from Pietermaritzburg’s City Hall to the new finish at Durban’s Moses Mabhida Stadium took place on June 10 and was, for most local runners, a successful one. Benoni Northerns Athletic Club (BNAC) was the local club with the most Comrades entries and therefore, with the most finishers, 179 out of 190 runners (a 94.2 per cent success rate).

• The popular Ebotse parkrun celebrated six years of existence on the morning of June 16 with the running of its 310th event on a chilly winter’s morning.

• Farrarmere Primary School learner and Benoni Agricultural Holdings resident Brent Johnson (12) represented South Africa at the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) BMX World Championships, which took place in Baku, Azerbaijan. The BMX racing talent retained his world number (#W5), for finishing fifth in the world in the boys’ 12 age category final.

• The annual Muriel Brand/Cerebral Palsy Bowls Day fundraiser again rolled into the Benoni Country Club (BCC) on June 29. Organised by BCC’s bowls section, the fundraiser brought in a whopping R180 000, R20 000 more than what was raised last year for the Muriel Brand School for children with special needs in Brakpan and the Vita Nova Centre in Springs which caters for persons with cerebral palsy, Down syndrome, autism and the physically and mentally challenged.

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