Provincial cross country championship held in Kagiso
The CGA provincial championships proved to be a huge success in Kagiso recently and the team is gearing up for the nationals in Durban soon.
After hosting five successful league and provincial trials, Central Gauteng Athletics (CGA) recently hosted their provincial cross country championship.
The race which took place on Saturday, August 28 at the Kagiso Sports Complex was held in partnership with Tsogo Sun Hotel and the National Lotteries Commission.
The veterans and masters event set the tone for the day with a running distance of 8km where Mbongeni Ngxazozo of Rockies Athletics was the first athlete to cross the finish line in a time of 25 minutes and 39 seconds. Jessica Stuart of Run Zone Athletics finished first in the veteran women’s category – a 4km race that she won in a time of 15 minutes and 21 seconds.
There was no shortage of talent on the day and when the development competitions started the boys and girls in the U/8 category battled it out over a distance of 1km.
Mahlatse Maroga representing Caster Semenya’s Masai Athletics Club claimed first place in a time of four minutes and 27 seconds while Matthew Strydom from Backtrack Athletics Club dominated the boys category in a time of four minutes and 32 seconds.
One of the favourite events on the day was the 10km senior men’s event where Nicholas Seoposengwe from Boxer Athletics Club took the win in a time of 30 minutes and 13 seconds. He was subsequently crowned the 2021 CGA Cross Country 10km champion.
At the post-event interview Nicholas said he was over the moon with the victory.
On the women’s side it was Cacisile Sosibo from the Entsika Athletics Club who not only dominated the race from start to finish, but won with an impressive time of 36 minutes and 48 seconds. She is expected to improve her personal best at the National Championships to be held next month.
The final race of the day was the 4km senior men’s and women’s event in which Ryan Mphahlele took the title from Marko Bucarizza who dominated this event throughout the season. Ryan won in a time of 11 minutes and 38 seconds, with Marko finishing just nine seconds later.
Then in the senior women’s 4km race it was Cian Oldknow who took her fourth win in the category with a time of 13 minutes and 56 seconds.
CGA chairperson Steven Khanyile thanked Tsogo Sun Hotels and the National Lotteries Commission for their support throughout the season. He confirmed that the province will be sending a strong team consisting of the Top 6 from the provincial championships to the national championships which will be held in Durban on September 18.
