Athletics Gauteng North honours top athletes
Athletics Gauteng North's athletes, coaches and administrators were honoured last week for their hard work in 2015.
South African athletics is currently experiencing a very exciting era and there is a feeling of anticipation and great excitement about the possibility of a few medals at this year’s Olympics.
In this time of prosperity for South African athletics, however, there is one province that stands out from the rest like a sore thumb.
The annual awards event of Athletics Gauteng North proved last week, that the province is by far South Africa’s leading power amongst track and field and cross country athletes as well as in the ranks of road runners.
One only needs to look at the names of prize winners at the abovementioned function to realise how strong athletics currently is in Gauteng North.
If the list of best performers among the seniors is impressive, the list of the juniors who excelled tells a story of a province not only at the peak but also of a bright future of South African athletics and Pretoria.
– Among the cross-country athletes Shadrack Hoff and Thobile Amon were respectively named male and female athletes of the year.
– Marc Mundell and Corlie Swart are male and female athlete of the year among the walkers respectively.
– Gauteng North’s best male road runner is Stephen Mokoka, the winner of the Two Oceans Marathon and the 2015 Comrades, Caroline Wöstmann is female road athlete of the year.
– Among the track and field athletes, the judges could choose between the who’s who of South African athletics. Eventually Akani Simbine was named male athlete of the year, while Wenda Nel received the award as female athlete of the year. The young sprint sensation, Gift Leotlelo, was named most promising athlete of the year.
– In the overall category, the best among all four divisions, Simbine and Wöstmann was named Gauteng North’s male and female athletes of the year.
– Hennie Kriel, who coaches top sprinters such as Gift Leotlelo, is the couch of the year.
– Sipho Shawe was named the official of the year, while Liandra Kendall got the award as administrator of the year.
