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Dear Nedbank Club Chairmen, Committees and Members.
What a fantastic year for the Nedbank Running Club and all our members in South Africa as well as at our Nedbank Running Clubs on the African continent.
The Nedbank Green gazebos and feather flags were seen all over South Africa and our runners dominated the roads in all major races across South Africa. There were so many highlights for this year especially the huge number of runners that competed at all the major races in South Africa in NRC colours like the Comrades Marathon, Two Oceans Marathon, Loskop, Om Die Dam and Soweto Marathon. The very popular ladies Spar races across the country saw hundreds of our women`s runners running and attending the festivities and celebrations at this charity event. Our Nedbank athletes formed the backbone of all the provincial road running teams that competed in the SA Championship events in road running, cross-country as well as track and field events.
While the Nedbank Running Club, itself went from strength to strength this year, our elite athletes delivered top-notch performances week in and week out. All credit for the success that the clubs achieved this year goes out to members of the Nedbank Running Club under the capable and strong leadership of our Chairmen and Club Committees. On the social front all our Nedbank Running Clubs across South Africa must be applauded for the manner in which they looked after the interest of our club members.
Our African Clubs has shown immense growth in the boundaries outside of South Africa- Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. The Kenyan athletes also competed more frequently for our Nedbank Green Dream Team.
World Championships events.
The Nedbank Running Club athletes also contributed to the successes of National South African team representation at World championship events like the 50km World championships in Brasov, Romania where the men’s team brought back the Gold medals for 1st team overall in the World and Lungile Gongqa brought back the silver medal for 2nd overall. We are proud off our heroes like Fikile Mbuthuma, Deanne Horn, Ntombi Mfunzi, Tanith Maxwell, Edward Mothibi, Joseph Manyedi and Lungile Gongqa.
2019 Two Oceans 56KM Marathon and half marathon.
We are immensely proud of our athletes who excelled in all major road and trail races across the country as well as internationally. Some of these athletes include Gerda Steyn who won the 2019 Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon in an outstanding style. She was well supported with top performances from her Nedbank Green Dream Teammates in the likes of Irvette van Zyl (3rd), Dominika Stelmach (4th) and Priscilla Lorchima (8th).
The Nedbank men’s team also did a Steller performance with 6 out of the top 10. Justin Kemboi coming in 3rd place and Nedbank team mates, Sintayehu Yinesu (4th), Mabhutile Lebopo (5th), Mthandazo Qhina (6th) Jesse Gichuhi (7th) and Lungile Gonga (8th) who all flew the Green flag high.
Comrades Marathon
The most outstanding performance at the Comrades Marathon was Gerda Steyn, running under 6 hours and winning in a new Comrades up run record against strong national and international competition, with teammate Caitriona Jennings completing the podium in 3rd, Dominika Stelmach (5th) and Catrin Jones (9th)
Our men’s Green Dream Team also impressed with an outstanding run by Edward Mothibi to take the win with teammates Joseph Manyedi (5th), Justin Chesire (6th), Henri Ansio (7th) and Marko Mambo (8th).
Spar Grand Prix
Helalia Johannes won all 6 Spar Ladies Races in dominating fashion. With maximum points from all 6 legs, no runner has ever been this dominant in the series, she was followed in the series standings by teammates Tadu Nare (2nd), Irvette van Zyl (4th) and Rutendo Nyahora (9th). Nedbank Running Club also received the 1st place award for the Club with the highest points in the Spar Grand Prix Series
Great performances countrywide
There were a host of other great performances in 2019 to add to the Nedbank Running Club`s achievements. Joseph Manyedi won the Om Die Dam Marathon, Irvette van Zyl claimed victory at the Soweto Marathon and Debeko Dakamo Dasa winning the men`s title at the Soweto Marathon. Sibosiso Nzima broke the tape first at the Durban City Marathon. Ngodzinashe Ncube won the Mosselbay Marathon.
Great performances at various other races came from David Manja, Joel Mmone, Phillimon Mathiba, Mthandazo Qhina, Fikile Mbuthuma, Lungile Gongqa, Ntombesintu Mfunsi, Eric Ngubane, Juan van Deventer, Cobie Smith, Brendan Letswe, Chrizel Roberts, Annie Bothma, John April and Rutendo Nyahora
New York
The golden girl of South African Road running Gerda Steyn produced the fastest marathon time for 2019
Gerda set SA best marathon time for 2019 at the New York marathon by running 2:27:48 and bettered her personal best by over 3min. She easily beat the Olympic qualifying standard
Well done to all the Green Dream Team athletes.
SA Sports awards
Among the nominees were a host of Nedbank running club athletes. In the category ‘team of the year’ the South African men’s team for the World 50km championships who took team gold in the championships were nominated. This team was spearheaded by Nedbank running club national team manager Nick Bester who was the team coach alongside Nedbank running club athletes Lungile Gonqa, Edward Mothibi and Joseph Manyedi.
Gerda Steyn was nominated in the category ‘the people’s choice of the year
Receiving special recognition on the night was Comrades champion Edward Mothibi. Mothibi was presented a Ministers excellence award medal for his efforts this year.
Development programs
The Nedbank Running Club’s Development Programs across the country are very well managed and have been producing solid and promising results. Former marathon star Pio Mpolokeng, manager and coach of the Nedbank Running Club Klerksdorp in Central North West is one of the best in South Africa and this shows when he was awarded the Sports council of Matlosana award in October 2018. Several of his development athletes performing at the highest level in major races in the country under his mentorship. On top of this many of them also represented their country in the Southern Region Championships and some are already chosen to represent South Africa in the next World Championships. a Special mention goes to Pillemon Mathiba who came 5th in the Dublin marathon in October 2019 in a new best time of 2h13min32sec.
We are delighted in the superb work of the NRC’s Development group in Soweto, under the very capable chairmanship of Siyaya Khoza. Siyaya grew the club to 260 members and his development runners are dominating road races and the cross-country scene in Central Gauteng, with a couple of South African podium finishers in his stall too. a Lot of this athletes are from grass root levels and are between the ages of 14 and 18 years.
The new established development club in Carletonville under the watchfull eye of Coolboy Ngamole is starting to produce South African champions in the likes of Brendan Letswe.
The Nedbank Skosana Development initiative in Gauteng North is also moving forward. This club is under the management of SA athlete Enoch Skosana, a multiple SA representative. His athletes are ruling the cross-country and track scene in Pretoria and did organise and present the very successful Nedbank/Skosana 10km road race for the 3rd consecutive year.
The Nedbank Running Club in Bloemfontein is going strong with more than 100 development athletes under the wing of Kantoor Nkoane.
All thanks to our sponsor Nedbank
Most importantly is the faith that our sponsor Nedbank has in our clubs, and we want to take this opportunity to thank them wholeheartedly and in advance for the on-going support in the next couple of years to come. With a sponsor such as Nedbank the Nedbank Running Clubs and athletes can approach the future with confidence.
We are very pleased that Nedbank Marketing confirmed their support to the running clubs till the end of December 2022. The very capable Tobie Badenhorst and Kelly Thompson are at the steer at the Nedbank Marketing Head Office in Sandton.
Important
Please remember that the members are our biggest assets and we must ensure that we are ready for them to join our clubs without any problems in 2020. Please ensure that there won’t be a shortage of running gear Please see that your administration is in place to ensure a smooth joining process by the first week of January 2020.
Road running races and entry procedure:
Please keep in mind that the trend these days is that entries to major races like Comrades,Soweto marathon,Two Oceans,etc. did get sold out very quickly-make sure to get you and your runners ventries in ahead of time.
Nedbank Running Club partners and sponsors
We are very fortunate to have partners and sponsors that contribute towards the success of our athletes as well as the added benefits that our members receive during the year. We want to thank our co-sponsors NIKE SA, BIOGEN and FUTURELIFE for their contribution towards the successes of the Nedbank Running Clubs and our athletes.
A special mention also goes to the Bavaria who sponsored our drinks at all our hospitality sites at major races across the country and they will be part of us on a bigger scale come 2020 Season.
Please make arrangements and get yourself in gear with all the necessary tools to be able to handle the rush in the new season. Here are some pointers.
- My suggestion is that all clubs must plan to attend the very first race in their respective provinces with a full set of license numbers, joining and registration forms and club kit. The club gazebo and representatives of your respective clubs must be at all the races in your province for at least January and February, as this time is crucial to recruit new Nedbank Running Club members.
- Please send us a breakdown of all the sizes of the vests that you require for your club members-also specific state how many men`s and how many women`s vests you require and work according to the membership totals registered on our national website page. We will supply you with 24% more than your membership.
- We are waiting in anticipation to find out when the new 2019 license numbers will be available, but the 2018 licenses will be allowed until at least 31 January 2019.
- A friendly reminder to distribute advertising pamphlets with your club’s contact details and joining procedures at all the races during January and February 2019 to attract more members.
- Please try and plan your AGM long in advance to ensure all at the club are aware of the AGM to enable as many people as possible to attend. This will allow the election of a strong committee to look after the needs of the members.
Other sporting activities under the IAAF and ASA constitution
Historically the NRC has concentrated on ‘road running events’, and that will continue to be our focus, but we ask you to pay special attention to the needs of your members regarding IAAF/ASA standards, namely cross-country, race walking as well as track and field.
Trail running, and track events is becoming very popular. It would be a good idea to start catering for these athletes, especially in the light of the amount of publicity it has been generating lately. In doing so, we could attract many (junior) members as school children are restricted from running long distance road races, and they are mostly involved in cross-country and track events. A good idea is to consider an annual junior trophy or two in your annual awards ceremonies.
Nedbank Running Club/NIKE kit
I think all our members will be delighted to receive their free new running vest in January 2019.
We do have some stock in the current NIKE gear and all sizes are confirmed in stock at the NIKE warehouse. You must send us your breakdown of sizes that you need before or not later than 6 December 2019 if you want this to be delivered before year end. We do have all the Nedbank attire available like shorts, crop tops, bikini bottoms, tights, golf shirts, t-shirts ,warm up tops and track suits and ¾ tights-check the website for designs. NB. We also got the the very popular unisex Boxer running shorts of high-quality back in stock for the members who wish to buy.
IMPORTANT: The new vest is made according to IAAF advertising standards. We are proud of our gear and the fact that the Nedbank Green Team is standing out on the roads in South Africa. Please note the Vest sizes are up to XL and if bigger sizes needed it will be generic kit that you must order this year to have it in time next January
Sponsorship allowance to Nedbank Running Clubs for the 2020 season:
The incentive scheme that we used for the past 3 running seasons worked well, and we will continue with this incentivized sponsorship structure for the 2020 season. Clubs will be incentivized for efficiency and performance by their committees and runners. Those performing Nedbank Clubs will benefit financially, measured by their performance over the year. |
