The reigning champions, Lakeside Primary School athletes, have again successfully defended their Boksburg Cross-Country Championship title after coming out on top during the finals of the local schools league meetings held at the Boksburg Stadium recently.
A total of 20 Boksburg schools participated in this year’s competitions.
Concordia came second while New Comet Primary secured the third spot in the championships.
This year, the number of trophies up for grabs increased to 70, because this was the first year that U7 and U8 teams were included, while in the past they all started from under U9.
Good work
The school principal, Craig Jansen, attributed the great performances to the learners’ winning spirit and the coaches’ strong commitment and determination, which helped the athletes to rise above all the challenges and achieve greatness.
“There was a lot of improvement from athletes compared to previous competitions. I must also give credit to our new cohorts (juniors) who performed beyond our expectations, and we hope to continue with this good work.
“I think the children are excited about winning and love the school, so whatever we want to achieve they go all out to ensure that they are part of a winning team. Even those who could not make it to the final cried hysterically.
“I have to say the sports co-ordinator Van Stade, and coach Marshall Hartzenberg were very dedicated. Even in the cold weather, they were practising without excuses. In fact, in our school, we don’t have excuses. We do whatever we can with what we have. So it was a lot of effort.”
“We are a no-fee public school that doesn’t even have a proper field and other facilities to train. Our children practise during lessons because we can’t keep them after school due to transport issues.
“So when we reach this great success it means a lot to us. We are super proud of our athletes and the overwhelming support from our parents, particularly the support they have shown towards the little ones.”
Background
In the start of the three leagues, Lakeside unleashed a cohort of 252 athletes, who saw to it that their school earned the most points to be crowned the champions of the competition.
Subsequently, 180 learners from the school made it to the finals of the Boksburg championships.
The school is also celebrating its 11th year of back-to-back victories in the cross-country championships.
The school management team and learners said they are elated with the defence of their title and back-to-back victories. However, what made the 2024 and last year’s victories special is that the school remerged the overall winner to be crowned the champion, and also took all the trophies that were up for grabs during the competitions.
According to Jansen, they made history in the competition because no other school had won the overall trophy and went on to grab all the trophies up for grabs in the competitions.
Upcoming challenges
Jansen said the focus would now shift to the upcoming challenges, including the District Cross-Country Championships to be held on August 22 at Boksburg stadium.
“Right now the focus is on the next stage where we are sending 132 athletes from our school to be part of team Boksburg.”
The Lakeside Primary School-dominated team Boksburg consists of a total of 320 athletes, who will, in the district competition, go head-to-head with greater Germiston and Alberton at the Boksburg Stadium.
Thereupon, the best-performing athletes will be selected to be part of the District Six team which will fight it out against 16 other Gauteng districts at the Gauteng Provincial Cross-Country Championships to be held in Brakpan on August 30.
This highly contested event will see thousands of athletes battling it out to be in the top six to go to the nationals.
From there, a provincial team will be set up to compete at the National Cross-Country Championship to be held in Kimberly on September 27-28.
This year, Lakeside Primary School hopes to double the number of learners who made it through to the nationals last year.
“We have huge dreams for our next competitions. Last year we took six athletes to the nationals, so this year we want to double that number. Some of our athletes also run for private clubs and already eight of them are going for SA champs on August 30,” said Jansen.
Sponsorship
The winning team is appealing for sponsors to help the youngsters with sports gear and other sports equipment for their team of 250 athletes.
“Please help us look like the champions, because the little we have doesn’t reflect our great performances. During the events, our children sit in the sun because they don’t even have gazebos like other schools,” said Van Stade.
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