By Thabiso Mazosiwe
The community of KwaNomzamo, in Lwandle played host to the 5th leg of the Western Province Athletics (WPA) Street Athletics series for 2018 on Wednesday 29 August 2018.
CAPE TOWN, SOUTH AFRICA – Wednesday 29 August 2018, members of the public, school children and residents of Lumka Street in Nomzamo in Strand, participate in the Western Province Athletics (WPA) Street Athletics programme. Photo by Roger Sedres
Hosts, Lwandle Athletics Club, provided an exciting fun-filled afternoon after a month long break from the series.
WPA Vice President Jakes Jacobs, was elated mentioning that “Street Athletics belongs to the people and the community here in KwaNomzamo showed us that when programmes start at the grassroot level and upskill kids, providing opportunities to showcase their talent, Ubuntu comes out and the whole neighbourhood supports.”
Hundreds of running enthusiasts of all ages flocked to Lumka Street in KwaNomzamo to support the festivities, with a DJ pumping local favourite songs to lighten the mood, while some of WPA’s top track & field, cross country and road running athletes, volunteered their time as technical officials at the event.
“Communities such as this one play a vital role in supporting the #OneDreamOneTeam motto we as WPA aspire to and supporting athletics development at grassroots level is an important aspect of the overall development programme,” said Jacobs.
“Today was once again testament to the fact that running is alive and well in our communities.”
Eersteriver Athletics Club hosted the first of the Street Athletics series on 21 February 2018. Eersteriver Athletics Club had a good understanding of what was to be done prior to the event which led to an increase in participation at the event and the club confirmed that they would love to be part of the series come 2019.
Children of all ages and adults, get to run various distances from 50m to 200m in a closed-off street within a residential area. Photo by Roger Sedres
On 13 March the 2nd street athletics event was held in Atlantis with hosts Velocity Athletics Club proving a good set up. With ample space along the roads and keen club members assisting at the event everything went smoothly.
Besides the mass participation, the highlight of the event was definitely the parent’s race which was a crowd favourite on the day.
WPA Head of Development Michael Schouw expressed his satisfaction with the series ahead of the sixth and penultimate leg: “Street Athletics coupled with giving back to our communities’ shows that Ubuntu still exists on many levels.
We work closely with communities to identify and develop local talent to illustrate how our collective efforts can help rebuild communities through partnerships.”
WPA Street Athletics, is a series of community focused events, where all youngsters are invited to participate and compete against each other, over short and medium distances.
The ultimate aim of the programme is that all children, from all areas, feel welcome to actively participate as the events take athletics to communities and the people. The programme provides the opportunity to broaden their existing prospects within sport and other non-sports related areas.
Photo by Roger Sedres for WP Athletics
The 2018 Street Athletics series has 2 events left for this calendar year, Top Form on the 12th September and Bottelaray on the 24th October.
For more information please contact Development Officer, Kurt Cameron on development@wpathletics.co.za or 021 418 3232
