Gauteng North’s cross-country athletes once again dominated the national championship, which was held at the Uitsig High School in Centurion this past weekend, when they won by far the most medals.

The Gauteng North athletes finally went home with 91 medals, 18 more than their closest opponents from Central Gauteng.

The majority of these medals (38) were gold, while the Pretoria athletes also won 29 silver and 24 bronze medals.

It was especially the women and girls’ teams from Gauteng North that performed excellently. Six of the girl’s teams, as well as the u.23s, the senior women (4km) and senior women (10km) and the women 45+, 55+ and 60+ won their respective team competitions.

Although the senior men of Gauteng North were less successful, the province’s boys’ teams won the honours in five divisions. The two oldest male participants in the province, Neville Muir (80+) and Frans Grobler (85+) also provided glory for Gauteng North with a gold medal each.

On an individual level, Glenrose Xaba’s performance stood out among Gauteng North’s women. She dominated the women’s 10km race to retain her national crown for the third year in succession. Her winning time was 34:25.

Another Gauteng North senior woman, Aynslee van Graan, won two medals at the championship. Her third place in the 10km race gave her the bronze medal, while she later won gold with her first place in the 4km race.

Lee-Anne Blake from Gauteng North won the 4km race for u.23 women, while the rising young star of Hoërskool Montana, Carmie Prinsloo, won gold in the 4km race for girls u.17.

Despite the cold weather that hit Gauteng over the weekend, the event was very well attended. Hundreds of spectators travelled from all over South Africa with the athletes to support them and the school grounds of Uitsig High School was a hive of activity with the gazebos of sponsors and a variety of refreshment stalls which provided a colourful site.

Do you have more information about the story? Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s websites:

Rekord East
Rekord North
Rekord Centurion
Rekord Moot

For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram