As South Africa enters day 92 of lockdown, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Nedbank running club SWD in George have kept members spirits up by hosting a weekly ‘virtual’ time trial which has seen over 200 members on a weekly basis take part.
“It’s been a great success so far,” says Daniel Raubenheimer, chairman of the Nedbank RC SWD. “From our youngest runners like Pierre Visser who is only 7, to Annatjie Bentzen who is 78 and a regular competitor, the whole family gets to join in the fun.”
The fastest time so far in the 5km has been a 16:39 by Bernardo Fredericks and the fastest woman has been Lana Theunissen in 20:19. Over the 3km, Francois Maquassa has run a speedy 9:20 with Theunissen against the fastest woman in 12:15.
Besides the virtual time trials, the club also hosted a virtual race which was run over 10km and had a shorter 3km fun run option. Green dream team supported team athlete Lloyd Bosman who was set to run his debut Two Oceans earlier this year which was cancelled due to the pandemic, came out tops in the 10km running a quick 30:44, finishing 6:01 ahead of 2nd placed Nicolaas Steenekamp who finished in 36:45. First lady home was Cecilia Nel, dipping under 40 minutes to run 39:27 and finish 3rd overall.
In the accompanying 3km fun run, youngster Tonya Schoeman blitzed a 10:21 to finish first lady and first overall, ahead of Dian Barhuizen who finished in 11:59.
Top 5 results from the Nedbank RC SWD virtual race:
|
10 km
|
|
|
|
|
Place
|
Name
|
Club Name
|
Time
|
|
1
|
Lloyd Bosman
|
Nedbank SWD
|
30:44
|
|
2
|
Nicolaas Steenekamp
|
Nedbank SWD
|
36:45
|
|
3
|
Cecilia Nel
|
Nedbank SWD
|
39:27
|
|
4
|
Adriaan de Bruyn
|
Nedbank SWD
|
40:39
|
|
5
|
Tian Koen
|
Nedbank SWD
|
41:29
|
|
3km
|
|
|
|
|
Place
|
Name
|
Time
|
|
|
1
|
Tonya Schoeman
|
10:21
|
|
|
2
|
Dian Barhuizen
|
11:59
|
|
|
3
|
Patrick van der Ross
|
12:52
|
|
|
4
|
Elisma van Wyk
|
13:00
|
|
|
5
|
Sumay van Wyk
|
13:25
|
|