Seventeen gold, twenty silver and fourteen bronze for a total of 51 medals. This was the performance of Gauteng North’s athletes at the past weekend’s Athletics South Africa (ASA) National Track and Field championship, which was hosted at the Tuks Athletics Stadium in Pretoria.

With this achievement, the athletes of Gauteng North continued their years of dominance of athletics in the country.

Gauteng North’s number of medals at the championship was almost double that of the province which finished in second place, namely Central North West, which managed to win 30 medals – ten gold, nine silver and eleven bronze.

Central North-West was followed by Central Gauteng Athletics (sixteen medals), Boland Athletics (fourteen medals) and Western Province with eight medals.

Gauteng North made a clean sweep on the podium in various events. However, it did not just stop at the podium positions.

The men’s 400m hurdles final was a telling example of the way Gauteng dominated this championship. In the final of this item, an athlete from Gauteng North ran in each lane of the track, meaning the other provinces had to watch from the pavilion as eight Pretoria athletes battled for the three medals. The item was won by Le Roux Hamman in a time of 49,70s.

In the final of the women’s 100m hurdles, seven of the eight athletes who qualified were local athletes from Gauteng North.

Gauteng North also once again dominated the relay items, with victories in the 4x100m for women, 4x400m for women and 4x400m for men. In the women’s 4x100m, Gauteng North entered three teams, all of which finished on the podium with gold, silver and bronze.

However, one of the biggest surprises of the event also took place in the relay items when the A-team from Gauteng North, consisting of Akani Simbine, Benjamin Richardson, Thembo Monareng and Thando Dlodlo was beaten by the team from Central Gauteng.

Simbine proved that he is still South Africa’s fastest man when he won the 100 metres at the championship in 9.99s. The other two medals were also won by Gauteng North athletes from the TuksAthetics club. Gift Leotlela was second in 10.16s. Thembo Monareng was third in 10.33s.

The women’s 100m final was won by Reabetse Moloi (Gauteng North) in a final race in which six of the eight athletes who qualified competed in the colours of Gauteng North. Moloi’s winning time was 11.55s. Miranda Coetzee (North West) was second in 11.69s and Boipelo Tshemese (Gauteng North) third in 11.70s.

The 32-year-old Wenda Nel once again ascended her throne as South Africa’s 400m women’s hurdles champion, when she beat her two young challengers, Zeney van der Walt (silver) and Taylon Bieldt (bronze) in the final. All three athletes were in action in the colours of Gauteng North.

Other top local athletes who excelled and won gold medals at the championship are Deline Mpiti (400m for women), Prudence Sekgodiso (800m for women), Tshepo Tsite (800m for men), Caster Semenya (5000m for women), Gelenrose Xaba (10000m for women), Marjone Fourie (100m hurdles for women), Yvonne Robson (high jump for women) and Wayne Snyman (20km walk for men).

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