Former BAC chairperson starts his own athletics club
Athletics coach doing big things
Former Boksburg Athletic Club (BAC) chairperson Benzi Tenza, who became the first black CEO of the Boksburg club, has continued to contribute and give back to the sport he loves by starting his own club.
Tenza was named as the chairperson of the BAC in late 2018 before stepping down a year later to tackle other ventures in the sport he felt needed his attentions more. He was replaced by current BAC CEO Richard Montjoie.
A few years ago, Tenza and co-athletes Maria Gumede and Hulikani Nyathi met and ran 6.5 kilometres in preparation for the 2016 Comrades Marathon – and so the name Team Comrades 2016 (Team C16) was born.
Team C16 is a training group which accommodates athletes around Ekurhuleni and it has grown in exponential numbers since its inception – one of the main reasons which persuaded Tenza to take the inevitable step of forming a club. He is again joined by Gumede and Nyathi in this bigger project as co-founders.
According to Tenza, the constitution for the club is completed, so too are the club colours and logo, as well as the name of the club which will all be revealed during the launch which is likely to take place behind the back of Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA)’s approval. The club is expected to begin operations in January 2021.
Last but certainly not least, the registration of the club has been submitted to CGA and the governing body is expected to respond by the end of October latest.
“We will be submitting 50 names of athletes who have indicated that they are interested in joining our club, usually CGA requires a minimum of 25 athletes for registration purposes,” confirmed Tenza.
“We will keep Team C16 as it is and continue to use it as a training base for all running clubs, including this new one. The new club already has a new interim executive committee which manages the process of ensuring that our club is registered and running smoothly.”
Watch this space.
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Also Read: Tenza steps down as BAC chair
