Western Cape Athletes Shine at National Schools Championships

Thousands of learners from across the country in the age group 13–18 years competed for honours in a variety of sporting codes at the National School Sports Championship. The championship is hosted annually by Sport and Recreation South Africa (SRSA) and the Department of Basic Education (DBE).

Western Cape Athletics kept the flag flying high at the South African National Schools Championship, held in Bloemfontein from 10 to 14 December. The team comprised mainstream, deaf, Down's Syndrome and Sasa intellectually impaired athletes and scored a total of 25 gold, 20 silver and 11 bronze medals in the competition.

The mainstream athletes contributed eight gold, 13 silver and three bronze medals, the deaf athletes brought in 12 gold, four silver and two bronze, the Sasa intellectually impaired athletes got five gold, two silver and four bronze, and the Down's Syndrome athletes came home with one silver and two bronze medals.

Athletics general manager, Llewellyn Arendse, said that although the team dealt with many challenges, he was extremely happy with the performances of the athletes. He said: “Considering the timing of the competition I felt the team did very well. Athletes are usually doing their pre-season training at this time of the year.”

He also said that the athletes showed great determination to do well. “They realised that they had the opportunity make a name for themselves at this competition and went out to do so.”

Arendse noted the exploits of Kyle Appel, Benje Momberg and Tamzyn Thomas as some of the standout performances of the event.