Records were smashed and standards achieved a plenty in May 2023. With 116 members participating in the ABSA Run Your City Cape Town event on 1 May, we stood out in blue within a sea of red t-shirts.
The awards and special mentions for the month of May are summarised below.
Runner of the month
Louise Kumm was awarded female runner of the month for achieving a silver and a gold standard over the 10km distance. She placed first in her age category at the Safari Wellington 10km where she also broke the club record for this distance in the Grand Master category with a time of 49:53.
Luca Boyana was awarded male runner of the month for achieving two gold standards in the 10km and 50km distances. Luca placed first in his age category at the False Bay 50km, and broke the Club 10km record in the Veteran category with a time of 33:05 at the ABSA Run Your City race.
Female trail runner of the month was awarded to Nisrine Smith for her strong finish in a very tough Ultra Trail Drakensberg – 62Km run.
Male trail runner of the month was awarded to Kevin de Klerk for completing two 100 miler trail races within two months and placing in the top 10 at the Mac Mac Ultra.
Club standards
Twenty-two (22) athletes were awarded Club standards for their performance during the month of May. This included four gold, eight silver and 19 bronze standards.
Special awards and achievements
Honorary membership was awarded to former Chairperson David Wilcock for his loyal and dedicated service to the club over many years.
Trail Captain, Gary Britz, received a special award for outstanding performance for placing first in his age category at the 100km MUT.
The Sloth Award went to Joan Lang as the oldest Sloth member to complete ABSA 10km.
The Captain’s award was presented to Mieke Barry and Alita de Witt for volunteering three weekends in a row to support planned long runs. These ladies braved very early mornings and some really bad weather to give you, our Club members, the long training runs you needed, leading up to Comrades.
Three trail runners received special mentions – Roelf Conradie for the 42km Mountain Ultra Trail (MUT), Michael McLeod for the 100km MUT and Brian Super for the Jonkershoek Mountain Challenge 12.5km, where he placed first in his age category.
Luke and Chad Knaggs (the Club’s youngest cross-country participants) received delicious personally branded chocolates for their enthusiastic participation in cross-country.
Zero to Hero team completed their 10km training programme
A total of 17 athletes completed their first (or first in a long time) 10km through training on the Club Zero to Hero 10km programme. The Heroes ran the ABSA 10km Run Your City event on 1 May alongside 99 other club members.
Club participation
The month of May was an active one for West Coasters. Members participated in 12 road races, and two cross-country events. In total we covered 4595.4 kilometres of road.
