Athletics event pays tribute to late learner

This annual event has been renamed in honour of the late MJ Zwane, who passed away on his way to the Independent Schools event in 2019.

The athletes marched to start the event. It was emotional, as the crowd, athletes and all officials paid tribute to MJ, later hearing from his brother how honoured the family felt that the Independent Schools named this event after his late brother.

Vocal coaches, Joanne Fisher Steyn and Danielle Fisher, joined their students for the national anthem. The students then took to the stage with some of their favorite songs.

There were performances from Tessi Ratnarajah, McKenzie Meyer, Jodi Clarke, Eva Reed and Nobuhle Khumalo.

“We are super proud of all of our performers, who sang their hearts out. We feel extremely blessed to be able to give our students a platform to perform and we look forward to seeing them spread their singing wings in 2020,” said Fisher.

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Penryn played host to over 650 athletes from 10 different schools, competing in a variety of track and field events.

The day started off gloomy but turned out wonderfully for all athletes and their parents cheering on from the sides.

Penryn’s Khaya Jiyane was awarded top junior boy sprinter, while Sheena Zinatsa was the top junior girl sprinter.

Sphe Nkudlane was named Senior Victor Ludorum and Lys Banza the Senior Victrix Ludorum.

Uplands bagged a total of 63 medals – 22 gold, 26 silver and 15 bronze. Uplands accounted for 30 per cent of all medals awarded.

Duné Haasbroek of Uplands received the trophy for the best track athlete for her individual performance in the u/10 girls 1 200 metres.

There were also a number of records broken during the event.

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Emmanuel Mashile of Summerhill equalled the boys’ u/8 80-metre record with a time of 12,81 seconds.

Riverview’s Olivia Scheepers broke the girls’ u/10 shot put record with a distance of 6,993 metres.

Siyanda Xaba of Curro broke the girls’ u/10 80-metre record in a time of 11,7 seconds.

Gerrit Kroon of Curro broke the boys’ u/11 1 200-metre record, with a time of 4:06,81.

Damian Hough of Flamboyant broke the open boys’ shot put record by three metres, setting it to 12,04.

The highlight of the day was when the teachers took to the field to battle it out in a 4×100-metre mixed relay.

Curro took the spoils, with Penryn’s staff team finishing in a close second.