Talent takes to the track and field

Athletes compete for podium positions at the School Sports Provincial Athletics Championships.

March 17, 2017

Puleng Sekabate 2 minutes read

Athletes take on the second lap of their 5 000m girl’s u-19 race. The race was held at the School Sports Provincial Athletics Championships that took place at Germiston Stadium on Friday and Saturday.

The Germiston Stadium was abuzz with athletes on Friday and Saturday.

Athletes, together with their supporters, gathered at the stadium for the School Sports Provincial Athletics Championships.

The Gauteng Department of Education, and the Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture and Recreation were the hosts of the event.

Over 1 000 high schools in Gauteng were represented at the championships.

Some of the Germiston Callies Harriers’ athletes also competed and gave local representation over the two days.

Their results were:

Simonè van der Nest won the girls’ u-19 100m and u-19 200m sprints.
Verushka Woest received gold in both the girls’ u-17 100m and 200m sprints.
Pedro Aaron received gold in the boy’s u-19 long jump.
Tanya Ehrke received a silver medal when she placed second in the girl’s u-19 100m hurdles.
Charlize Swanepoel got a silver medal for the girl’s u-19 400m and a bronze for the girl’s u-19 200m sprint.

The GCN managed to have a chat with some of the athletes.

“It feels good to achieve such results – the race was a bit hard as we were running against the wind, but I managed to pull through,” said Woest.

Van der Nest said, “Despite the wind, it was a good race for me and I enjoyed it.”

Aaron said, “I am humbled by my performance. I work hard and it is always a pleasure to see the hard work paying off.”

All the athletes agreed that hard work, dedication and training were important elements in their success.

The athletes’ coach was just as thrilled with the results.

“I am over the moon – all my athletes obtained podium positions,” said Stephanè Kotzè.

“The same athletes competed at the Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) Youth and Junior Championships last week, and all in all they produced ten golds in two weeks.

“Due to their great performance last week, all five of them have qualified to represent CGA at the National Track and Field Youth and Junior Championships, which will be held in Cape Town on April 7 and 8.”

Kotzè also said that, based on the weekend’s results, all five athletes qualified to compete at the School Sports National Championships that will be held in Durban on March 30 and 31.