What a year of Brakpan sport: August highlights
The year 2017 was a busy one for Brakpan’s sportspeople.
There were ups and there were downs.
This is the 2017 Brakpan year in review.
August
• For the first time in 11 years, Brakpan Rugby Club’s First XV did not run out for a Valke Rugby Union Peregrine League final. The dream of competing again in the South African Rugby Union’s elite community club tournament, the Gold Cup, also fizzled into oblivion. This comes after the ‘Panne’ were dealt a 36-30 defeat at the hands of less-fancied Reiger Park outfit East Rand United (ERU) in the semi-final of the Peregrine League at Bosman Stadium on August 5.
• Brakpan Boxing Club is thrilled with the achievement of their champion, Chantel Erasmus. She competed at the Gauteng Boxing Championships in Alberton over the weekend of August 4 and 5, upon receiving her Ekurhuleni colours. Erasmus won a silver medal in the women’s 57kg division.
• State Mines Country Club’s Casey Jarvis celebrated a special victory in England this season when he captured the English Boys u-14 Open Amateur Stroke Play Championship title on August 10. The 14-year-old Jarvis produced a wire-to-wire performance at the Manchester Golf Club to lift the celebrated Reid Trophy with a winning score of four-under 212.
• The biggest night in EFC history, EFC 62, had a fairy-tale ending at Carnival City’s Big Top Arena on August 19, when South Africa’s Dricus du Plessis became the first man in the organisation’s history to hold a title in two divisions simultaneously. Flyweight champ Nkazimulo ‘Zulu Boy’ Zulu also defended his title while Igeu Kabesa reclaimed the featherweight strap. The evening’s main event was contested between EFC welterweight champion Dricus du Plessis and EFC middleweight and British Association of Mixed Martial Arts champion, the UK’s Yannick Bahati.
• The Herald caught up with 12-year-old Crystal Mylie from Brenthurst, who is proving that rugby is not only for the boys. The Laerskool Die Arend learner played youth rugby with the boys in Brakpan Junior Rugby Club’s u-12 team this season.
• Brakpan residents Wayne Hinde and Nico Ameris competed in The Trans Baviaans 24 Hour Mountain Bike (MTB) Race and did exceptionally well. The MTB marathon creates the perfect combination of challenging cycling amongst spectacular scenery through exquisite mountain ranges, right into the heart of the magnificent Baviaanskloof Wilderness Area. Hinde and Ameris finished in a time of 12 hours, nine minutes and 42 seconds.
• The 2017 version of the Transvaal Galvanisers Mountain Bike (MTB) Race again took place in Dalpark Extension One, at the Van Dyk Dam opposite Carnival City, on August 27. Over 300 MTB riders took on the challenge of the 60km, 35km or 10km race distances – all in the name of raising much-needed funds for the Benoni-based Apricot Tree School for Stimulation and Development, which caters for children with varying intellectual and developmental disabilities.
Also read: Crystal proves girl power on the rugby field
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