Sports year under the magnifying glass (January to June)

The Herald recalls some of the achievements and events from the local sporting scene in 2015, as well as a few heartbreaks and disappointments along the way.

January

• The ever popular Rockmania kick-started the new year, with competitors in all the favourite motorsport disciplines fighting it out at the Rock Raceway Circuit on January 17. Brakpan driver Rieckerd Louwrens stole the show with a hat-trick of wins in all three heats in the V8 class.
• Rian van der Merwe scored United Cricket Club’s second ever century in the Eastern Premier League, with a score of 103, as the team posted their highest ever score in the league of 294/7 against Duduza.
• Disappointment was the order of the day for Brakpan’s Riaan van Niekerk, as he was forced to withdraw from the 2015 Dakar Rally, in South America. Riding his Broadlink KTM he called it quits during stage eight of the rally, after he suffered mechanical problems with his bike after crossing a salt pan.

February

• Hockey lovers throughout Ekurhuleni were thrilled that a long-awaited dream had been achieved with the final construction of the Eastern Gauteng Hockey Association (EGHA) AstroTurf facility, at their new site in Benoni, following a R4.5-million South African National Lottery Distribution grant.
• Brakpan Wrestling Club kicked off 2015 with 21 of their wrestlers participating in the annual Hansie Naude Championships, in Primrose. The club’s wrestlers raked in 11 gold, two silver and two bronze medals.
• Brakpan Rugby Club got their Assupol Club Series off to a great start with a 35-10 win over Pretoria Police, on February 15.
• The 31st edition of the Carnival City Macsteel Cycle Race took place from Carnival City on February 22. JC Nel, of Team Bonitas, was the overall winner of the 165km men’s elite race, while Kim Le Court, of Bestmed, won the women’s elite race.
• A historic night unfolded in Carnival City’s Big Top Arena on February 21 at EFC 37. The first ever women’s flyweight bout took place between South African Danella Eliasov and Hungarian Zita Varju. The local fighter defeated Varju via TKO in the first round.
• Brakpan Rugby Club’s first XV dotted down on 20 occasions in a 130-5 victory for the “Panne”, over Tshwane University of Technology’s (TUT) second side, in Pretoria, on February 28.

March

• The Eastern Cricket Union introduced the inaugural Battle of the Roses Premier League T20 competition, with Brakpan’s Hoskins Park announced as the host of the short-format tournament.
• Brothers JP Buys and Martin Joubert flew the Brakpan MMA flag at Fightstar 11, in Primrose. Buys, in particular, won the bantamweight title on the night.
• United Cricket Club exceeded their early season expectations with a fourth place finish in the Eastern Premier League – their second ever spell in the elite club league. Fast bowler Kevin Hinton finished as the league’s top bowler, with 31 wickets.
• Brakpan Rugby Club’s first team proved to be too strong for North West University (Vaal), with a 48-6 romp in the final of the Assupol Club Series at Loftus Versfeld, in Pretoria.
• Fighters from Xtreme Kickboxing Technologies’ (XKT) Brakpan branch brought back 16 medals from the Great North 1 tournament in Pretoria, one of the biggest kickboxing events in the country.
• Brakpan Central resident Karen Woest earned selection to the girls’ u-18 South African Action Cricket team that competed in the Indoor Junior World Series in Brisbane, Australia, in September.

April

• Stewart Chitambo defended the A-Division title of Royal Oak Country Club’s 2015 Club Championships, with rounds of 75 and 76. Jackie Burger won the B-Division, while Dewald Kotze won the C-Division. Bongiwe Dube became the club’s women’s champion.
• Brakpan residents and football players Carlos Da Fonsseca and Jeffrey Syster were selected to play for the u-21 Liverpool Football (LFC) Johannesburg team, a division of the English Premier League club.
• Two Brakpan Wrestling Club members, Martin Erasmus and Matthew Barlett, were selected to represent the country at the African Championships in Egypt.
• Golfer Jan Delport was crowned as State Mines Country Club’s overall club champion in the A-Division. Michael Hare won the club’s B-Division and Steve Bocher took the C-Division title. Amanda Venter won the club’s Women’s Silver Division and Sharon Rushworth won the Women’s Bronze Division title.
• Brakpan Rugby Club’s first XV kicked off their Valke Peregrine League campaign with a 58-3 mauling of NWU Vaal.

May

• Royal Oak Country Club’s professional and golf director Kenneth Dube won the individual professional PGA of South Africa Gauteng Central Regional Pro-Am on his home turf.
• Brakpan Mines Bowling Club was one of the host venues for the 2015 Warwick Wealth/Bowls South Africa Men’s National Championships, that came to Ekurhuleni in May.
• Carnival Runners sent a contingent of 20 runners to take on the Comrades Marathon up-run, from Durban to Pietermaritzburg. Petros Mbokazi was the club’s best finisher in a time of seven hours, 51 minutes and eight seconds.

June

• Maggie Dicks, a Grade Three teacher at Brenthurst Primary School, won the award for Most Outstanding Sport Official, for her work in athletics. Gussie Bartlett, of Brakpan Wrestling Club, was nominated in the Outstanding Sports Administration category.
• The landmark 40th EFC event took place in Carnival City’s Big Top Arena with outstanding fights from start to end. The main event between Dino “The Lion” Bagattin and Dricus “Stillknocks” du Plessis was won by the latter via rear naked choke.
• Martin Erasmus and Matthew Bartlett competed at the Continental Championships in Egypt. Bartlett returned with a silver medal after a heartbreaking defeat in his final match. Erasmus competed in both junior and senior brackets. He won gold in the junior ranks and finished as runner-up in the senior class. He secured selection to the All Africa Games, in the Republic of the Congo.
• Brakpan Rugby Club’s first XV were unbeaten at the halfway point of the Valke Peregrine League.
• United Cricket Club Premier XI player Kabelo Sekhukhune was selected to represent the South African u-19 cricket team that took on Bangladesh in a seven-match, Youth One Day International series, in Durban and Pietermaritzburg.
• Drag racer Wouter Havenga smashed the national speed record in his class (Competition Eliminator) in his Ford Escort (205.6km/h on the standing 400m).