July
• State Mines Country Club talent Casey Jarvis another significant footprint in South African junior golf with his victory in the Nomads SA Boys u-17 Championship in Mpumalanga on July 6. The 2017 English u-14 boys champion barely broke a sweat as he fired eight birdies in the final round for a flawless 64 to win by two shots from Gauteng golfer Cole Stevens.
• Jaun-Pierre Vermeulen (17), a member of the Dan Triangle Karate Club, was awarded Protea colours in karate from the South African Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc).
• High-quality boxing was at the order of the evening when FOX Sports Africa staged their Boxing Bonanza on July 20 at Carnival City.
Also read: WATCH: Youngsters show boxing finesse in the ring
• Despite defeating Boksburg Rugby Club in a pool match on July 28, Brakpan Rugby Club’s Peregrine League team would not feature in the league semi-finals (the first time in a number of years), marking a disappointing season.
August
• The Brakpan Junior Rugby Club all-girls’ u-13 team, ‘The Brakpan Bellas’, competed against the boys at the Valke Junior Club Rugby Sevens Rugby Day at Hoërskool Die Anker on Women’s Day on August 9.
• Kenneth Dube, golf director and club professional at Royal Oak Country Club, was named as the overall Club Professional of the Year by his fellow golf professionals of the Professional Golfers Association (PGA) of South Africa in August.
• State Mines Country Club’s Casey Jarvis lived up to his billing on August 12 as one of the best closers on the junior circuit when he conjured up a trio of birdies over the last three holes at the Fish River Resort to come from behind and win the Africa Junior Open.
• The Brakpan Rugby Business Initiative concept was introduced to the community and business leaders on the night of August 8 at Brakpan Rugby Club.
• Close to 400 fighters from around the province gathered at the Brakpan Indoor Sports Centre on August 25 for one of the largest amateur kickboxing events in South Africa, The Great North 2 event, hosted by Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies (XKT) president and Brakpan resident shihan Raymond ‘The Whip’ Phillips.
Also read: Great North 2 is back
• Garth Wolter tapped in for par to beat pacesetter Bryce Myburgh in extra time to celebrate his maiden success on the IGT Challenge Tour at State Mines Country Club on August 29.
September
• Just over 300 mountain bike (MTB) riders gathered at the start of the Transvaal Galvanisers Mountain Bike Race in Dalpark Extension One, at the Van Dyk Dam on the morning of September 2. The race featured three different distances (60km, 35km and 10km). In the men’s 60km race it was Jacques Greeff who arrived at the finish line first. He was followed in by Neal Derek Corbett in second position and Ryan Shehad in third place. Danelle Keulder crossed the finish line as the first woman home followed by Kerry-Ann Byrne Papash in second and Kim Kohl rounding off the top three places.
• Sherwood Gardens resident Matthew Bartlett (19) returned home on September 25 after competing at the United World Wrestling Junior World Wrestling Championships in Trnava, Slovakia. There he achieved a 12th place in the 74kg freestyle category.
• The final SupaDrift battle of the year took place at Brakpan’s Carnival City on September 28 and 29. Jason Webb was crowned as the 2018 national champion.
Also read: Gymkhana GRiD brings the noise
October
• Extreme Fighting Championships (EFC) featherweight champion Igeu Kabesa smashed his way to a third title defence, dismantling Scotland’s Calum Murrie during the main event of EFC 74 at Carnival City on October 6.
• United Cricket Club got their 2018/2019 Eastern Premier League campaign off to a winning start on a hot October 7 at home to Bedfordview Cricket Club.
• State Mines Country Club’s rising star Casey Jarvis performed exceptionally well to win the Ekurhuleni Open Stroke Play Championship tournament played at his home course from October 5 to 7.
• Brakpan Wrestling Club’s Fernando Booysen was in Youth Olympic Games wrestling action on October 14. The Hoërskool Hugenote learner competed in Group A of the men’s 48kg freestyle category at the Games in Buenos Aries, Argentina. The teenager was the only South African wrestling representative at the Games and was determined to return to his country with a medal around his neck. Unfortunately, for Booysen, it was not to be as the wrestler could only muster a fifth overall position.
• The 35th annual Carnival City Macsteel National Classic Cycle Race, organised by the Rotary Club of Germiston and Germiston Wheelers Cycling Club, was held on October 27 and 28 and attracted thousands of cyclists and runners. Reynard Butler pedalled over the finish line first, in the elite and u-23 men’s race. Kim le Court was placed first in the elite and veteran women’s division.
Also read: Thirty-fifth national classic attracts thousands
November
• Brakpan Wrestling Club star and 2018 Commonwealth Games gold medallist Martin Erasmus headed off to the u-23 World Wrestling Championships in Bucharest, Romania in November. He finished 12th in the 97kg freestyle category.
• Brakpan Wrestling Club veteran Jacques Meyer wrestled in the final of the Veterans World Championships in Skopje, Macedonia. He lost in the final to a Polish opponent and had to settle for a silver medal.
• Rising junior star Casey Jarvis of State Mines was announced as the Ekurhuleni Player of the Year following a fantastic year for the teenage golfer at the Ekurhuleni Golf Union’s (EGU) president Martin Saaiman’s annual President’s Dinner and Awards for 2018 at the Benoni Country Club on November 23.
December
• Petrol heads were treated to a spectacle of motorsport on December 1 when the international event that is Gymkhana GRiD took place at Brakpan’s Carnival City. Japanese drift legend Daigo Saito stole the show in the rear-wheel-drive class at Gymkhana GRiD while In the All-Wheel Drive class, double FIA World Rallycross champion Johan Kristoffersson claimed a second consecutive GRiD title.
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