Top local athlete passes away
"She was honest, not pretentious, and she had a passion for young athletes, who looked up at her as an older sister when we went to cross country events."
Athletes, Central Gauteng Athletics administrators and members of the community turned up in their hundreds at the St Emmanuel Church in Mohlakeng to pay homage to top local athlete Elizabeth “Skippy” Mthombeni, who passed away recently.
Elizabeth first made waves as a junior athlete while a pupil at Tswelelo Primary School.
She continued on to the Thuto Lehakwe Secondary School where she took part in a development programme initiated by the late Dennis Noge and Thabiso “Roots” Tsagane, who has since become a coach and also a top walk athlete.
“When we discovered her with the late Dennis Noge, she was just another average athlete but as time went on we unearthed the potential,” says Thabiso.
“Within a year, she had bloomed into a proper athlete and her potential shone through.
“She was honest, not pretentious, and she had a passion for young athletes, who looked up at her as an older sister when we went to cross country events.
“I became what I am because of her.”
CGA President James Moloi and CGA General Mandla Radebe and top athletes like Bobang Phiri, the former Barcelona and Atlanta Olympic Games 400m athlete, Sarah Mahlangu, the four-time Soweto Marathon champion from Mogale City, and local star Sbusiso Nzima, were among the mourners.
Her Community Work Project (CWP) co-workers also packed the church and the Zenzele Cemetery.
Her funeral procession was headed by a large group of runners, who lead mourners to her gravesite at the Zenzele Cemetery.
