The festive season break seemed to be just what the doctor ordered for a number of athletes, as they were in top condition at Central Gauteng Athletics’ (CGA) first track and field meeting of the year at Boksburg Stadium.
The recent meeting saw athletes from across Gauteng competing for top honours and honing their skills for the provincial and national championships that will be held later in the season.
The event opened with the ever-competitive 5km walk event and saw Tebatso Mashimbyi of Boksburg Athletics Club taking the home ground advantage in the men’s u-25 event and clinching the gold medal, in 23 minutes and 39.74 seconds.
Zelda Schultz showed why she is an Athletics South Africa (ASA) race walk champion in her division by finishing the 20km walk in an impressive 24 minutes and 38.87 seconds.
Germiston Callies Harriers athlete Pedro Aaron, made a return to competition and performed exceptionally in the men’s long jump event.
He won the event with a distance of 7.14m.
“We are looking forward to even greater performances from him in a quest to qualify for the upcoming international championships,” said Atiso Molefe, on behalf of CGA.
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Zonica Lindeque, who represented the University of Johannesburg (UJ) Athletics Club, was also in fine form and dominated the women’s shot put event.
She stole the show and won both the discus and shot put event, with throws of 42.71m and 15.66m respectively.
Young aspiring athlete Juandré de Bruin opened his season with impressive performances in the boys’ u-17 800m and 1 500m events.
De Bruin won the 800m race in a time of two minutes and 2.4 seconds and the 1 500m event in a time of four minutes and 13.4 seconds.
“His performance puts him in good standing as he heads into the rest of the season,” Molefe said.
The thrills continued throughout the day and spectators were not left disappointed.
One of the hottest disciplines of the day was the 5 000m race where Boxer Athletics Club topped both the women’s and men’s event.
In the action-packed women’s event, Conelia Joubert was able to turn tables on her competitors in the last two laps to claim the victory, in a time of 18 minutes and 38.3 seconds.
In the men’s event, Precious Mashele won the race in style.
He battled with his training partner, Kabelo Seboko, for the better part of the race, but was able to beat him to the punch in the dying moment of the race, finishing in 14 minutes and 9.79 seconds.
The next event on the CGA calendar will be held at UJ’s Soweto Campus on February 1.
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Contact the newsroom by emailing: Melissa Hart (Editor) germistoncitynews@caxton.co.za, Leigh Hodgson (News Editor) leighh@caxton.co.za or Ashley Kiley (Journalist) ashleyk@caxton.co.za.
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