Western Province Athletics (WPA) kicked off the cross-country season at Silverstreamstrand Resort outside Atlantis on Saturday 26 May.
Once again the popular venue attracted runners in their numbers. Rain in the week prior to the event, hosted by Velocity Club, provided compact sand and the odd water splash, depending on your preference.
In the boys u-18 race over 6 km, Oliver Steward of Atlantic Athletic Club was the runaway victor, followed home by Sherwin Jooste and Rushin Blaauw, both of Bottelaryweg.
For the girls’ u-18 over 4 km, Alexa Mesham and Kia Gibbs claimed the first two spots for K-Way Varsity Old Boys, with Kylin Mouton of Nedbank third.
Anitha Nonene, running for RCS Gugs, won the girls u-20 race over 6km, followed by Simone Adams of Bottelaryweg and the Charmaine Leung of University of Cape Town. Young Carlo Flink of Itheko was unstoppable among the boys u-20 over 8 km, showing his class against Hache Mboli of Nedbank and Siyabonge Mathe of Easterns.
The 10 km race for men and women was run as five laps of 2 km and Anthony Timoteus of the University of Western Cape claimed his first victory of the season, running clear of Siviwe Wilomili of Nedbank and Nkosinathi Madyo of Itheko, while Bulelwa Simae took honours in the women’s race. She was followed by Lee-Shay Willemse of Velocity and Candyce Hall of Carbineers.
The final event of the day, the 4 km race for men and women, in its new time slot, attracted no less than 201 runners, albeit with the help of the traditional MobRace. This race was won by Vuyolwethu Mbuxushe of RCS Gugs and Kyla van Graan of Nedbank respectively.
“The venue is definitely one of the most stunning on the calendar,” said Brian Records, WPA Cross Country commissioning member, “but the thing about Cross Country is that it takes you places. If you enjoy running circuits over varying terrain, then you should join us.
