The top NWU athletes from the past year were celebrated on Wednesday, 27 October at a special award ceremony at the NWU Athletics Club house.
The big winners were the men’s athlete of the year, Zak Nene, who had a brilliant year in the 400 metres, representing SA at the Tokyo Olympics.
Nene also set up his own personal best time of 45.03 at the USSA Championships in Johannesburg in May. He is also the SA champion in the 400 metres.
The women’s athlete of the year award went to star javelin thrower and club captain, Jo-Ané van Dyk, who also reached her personal best with a superb distance of 61.19 metres. Van Dyk, the SA and USSA champion in the women’s javelin also participated in the Tokyo Olympics to cap a superb year.
The Paralympian of the Year award deservedly went to Liezel Gouws, for a superb year where she participated in the Tokyo Paralympics claiming a 5th place in the world in the T37 category.
The women’s junior athlete of the year trophy went to Marissa Swanepoel, who had a brilliant year in Race Walking. She put up a time of 48:33.52 at the SA u.20 championships taking gold in the 10 000m race walk. She is also the USSA champion in the same distance.
Swanepoel also represented South Africa at the u.20 World Athletics Championships taking a 17th place in Nairobi, Kenya. The men’s junior athlete of the year is Keanu Domingo who had an outstanding year participating in the u.20 Athletics Championships in Kenya in the 1500 metres.
He also set up a personal best time in the 1500 metres this year with a 3:46.16 run. NWU Athletics also honoured numerous coaches and athletes for their passion and dedication of the sport.
They include Martin Marx, Shaun Bownes, Stephan Louw, Chris Harmse, Dorita du Toit, Basie Koen, Carl Meyer, Jean Verster and Kobus du Toit, amongst other recipients.
The NWU athletics manager, Terseus Liebenberg also thanked, NWU Sport director, Sheldon Rostron, Sean McCallaghan, sport manager at the Vaal Campus as well and the executive director of student life at the NWU, Dr. Corrie Rheeder, during the ceremony.
