PREFACE - Vaal Athletic Club...Additional Members - Mr Sarel Myburgh Mr Johan Roux Mrs A Esterhuizen Mr Joshua Loock Mr W van der Merwe Club Fees: License Fee - R1.00 for seniors R0.60

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PREFACE

This booklet is drawn up in celebration of twenty one year’s existence of the Vaal Athletic Club.

All information has been gathered from minutes of meetings and newsletters written through the

years. In this process some information and names could have been lost or not reported, but we

have tried to give a true reflection as information was gathered.

Many thanks to all involved in giving information, photos etc. to be able to publish this book. I wish

to thank Heidi Vogel, of Vaal Triangle Publishers (Pty) Ltd, for all the photographic material passed

on to me.

I also wish to thank Louis van Wijck, Arthur Doyle, Jan Naude, Gert and Hettie Buter for all their

assistance. May this booklet be interesting reading material to all.

Johnny Terblanche 1994-08-05

I would like to acknowledge Johnny for the hard work he has done to record the history of the Club

for the first 21 years. Rest in peace my friend.

I wish to thank my wife Linda for translating everything into English from the original booklet.

It was endeavoured to change as little as possible from the original work done by Johnny, but with

working through all old Newsletters from 1987 onwards (Thanks Bennie) and documents found and

with new technology and the internet available; I felt these should be added. I include all Comrades

and Two Oceans results and any other information available.

Some newsletter articles was scanned to be included, unfortunately, most of these articles are in

Afrikaans, but as it is original articles written it would be an insult to the author to translate it in full.

I am proud to be a Valie and my wish is that all members past, present and in the future will see this

as continuous work in progress and be willing to add and record the history of the Vaal Athletic Club

in perpetuity.

Roelof van Wyk February 2017

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INAUGURATION OF the VAAL ATHLETIC CLUB

19 SEPTEMBER 1972.

On the 19th of September 1972, the official first meeting of a new athletic club, took place at the

USKO Recreation Club in Vereeniging.

This historical day, brought together athletic enthusiasts with a vision to organise, develop and

expand athletics in this area. It culminated in the creation of Vaal Athletic Club. Previous attempts to

establish athletic clubs never materialised.

Vaal Athletic Club was the leader to all other subsequent Clubs over the following years. Vaal can

rightly be known as the Father of all Clubs in the Vaal Triangle.

For Southern Transvaal Athletics it was a major boost. It prompted the presence of Mr Alistair

Mathews, Chairman of the Southern Transvaal Athletics Federation as well as a member of the

SAAAU at this inaugural meeting.

Mr Japie van Rooyen was appointed as the first Chairman. Other well-known attendees were Oom

Oubaas Coetzee, Dawid Booysen and Edwin Bohmer, two Springbok Athletes in the 1960’s.

The following persons attended this first meeting.

Mr Alistair Mathews (S.TVL UNION) Chairman

Joshua Loots

Dawid Booysen

W Barnard

Ruben Smit

I Holden

Johan Loock

Daan Els

Oubaas Coetzee

Johan Troskie

S Meyer

Johan de Lange

Kobus Scholtz

L Breedt

A du Preez

G Engels

C Oosthuizen

Japie van Rooyen

Edwin Bohmer

E Barnard

A Esterhuizen

B Riekert

(Some of the above people will do big things for Athletics in the Club and in the Vaal Triangle)

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THIS IS THE ORIGINAL HAND WRITTEN MINUTES OF THE FIRST MEETING

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Mr Mathews act as chairman and welcomes all present. Mr Booysen proposes the

establishment of a new Athletics Club and the name Vaal Athletic Club is accepted.

Mr Japie van Rooyen is elected as the First Chairman of Vaal Athletic Club, a man who would be influential in sport in the Vaal Triangle.

The following persons are appointed as the first Committee members of the Vaal Athletic

Club:

Chairman - Mr Japie van Rooyen

Vice Chairman - Mr Gideon Hall

Secretary/Treasurer - Mr Edwin Bohmer

Main Coach - Mr Joshua Loots

Club Captain - Mr Dawid Booysen

Additional Members - Mr Ruben Smit

Mr Kobus Scholtz

Mrs A. Esterhuizen

Mrs B. Riekert

The following is decided upon:

Club Fees - R2.50 for seniors

R1.00 for juniors

The decision was made that the Secretary and the Club Captain will attend the meeting of the Southern Transvaal Sports Federation to introduce the newly created club.

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19 SEPTEMBER 1972 - 1 OCTOBER 1973

1st Year of Existence

During this year the following was done:

• The club was registered with the Athletics Association;

• Letters were written to the Municipality and Local Companies for sponsorship;

• Creation of “Application for Membership Form” and the purchase of stationery (i.e.

cash receipt book and rubber stamp);

• A competition was logged to create a club logo;

• Organization with the Municipality in order for training to take place at Dick Fourie

Stadium;

• Election of a Club President – Dr Jacobs;

• Election of a Club Vice-President – Mr J Benn.

Nominations for additional members were as follows:

• Oubaas Coetzee

• Louis van Wijck

• Sarel Myburgh

• Mr van der Merwe

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VAAL ATHLETIC CLUB’s FIRST EVENT

On 13 September 1973 the first Track and Field Meeting was held at Dick Fourie Stadium

hosted by the Vaal Athletics Club.

The following interesting points were undertaken:

❖ The expertize of Mr Joe Sutzen was asked with the creation of a programme in

conjunction with advertisements, notice boards and flyers;

❖ The AA was approached for road assistance;

❖ The meeting was opened by the former Mr L V van der Merwe. Special invitations

were send to the three Municipal Mayors (i.e. Vereeniging, Vanderbijlpark and

Meyerton). They were Messrs Dick Fourie, J Barnard, Johan Hagen and Skippie

Botha;

❖ Entrée Fees for the meeting were set at 50c for adults and 20c for children;

❖ Negotiations with the South African Airways and Mr H van der Walt from Park Tours,

Vanderbijlpark were made to sponsor the air ticket for John van Reenen;

❖ Negotiations were taken to use the National Party’s vehicle, which was equipped with

speakers, to announce the date and venue of the meeting to local residents;

❖ Mr Louis Luyt donated a few dozen beers to entertain the marshals after the meeting.

An announcement after this meeting was made by Mr Mathews, from Southern Transvaal

Athletics Association, that Vaal Athletic Club can become the strongest club in Southern

Transvaal.

Application was made to host this event on an annual basis.

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During April 1973 a suggestion was raised that all equipment belonging to Vaal Athletic Club

should be stored in one place under the control of one person. The decision was made to

approach the Director of Parks in Vereeniging for the possibility of becoming a storage area

for all equipment at Dick Fourie Stadium. The Municipality agreed to allocate a storage area

for use by the Club.

On 6 August 1973 authority from Vereeniging Municipality was received that the club could

rent Dick Fourie Stadium on condition that 15% of the entrance fee should be paid to the

Municipality.

CROSS COUNTRY

Plans were made that the club would host the first cross country meeting to take place on 30

June 1973.

For this, a square route of 400m x 200m was measured out at Dr Malan Hoërskool who gave

permission that their sports grounds could be used for this event. Three athletes from Vaal

Athletics Club were part of the Southern Transvaal Junior Team namely Dan Jelinek, Johan

Daffue and Anton van der Walt.

During this cross country event, Mr Louis van Wijck also organised the Relay Race between

Johannesburg and Vereeniging, where Vaal Athletic Club was the winners.

GENERAL

On 10 September 1973, the Constitution of Vaal Athletic Club was approved by the Southern

Transvaal Athletic Union.

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Comrades 1972.

According to the Comrades results, oom Ampie Hattingh was the first and only athlete to

participate in this year’ Comrades. How it happened that he is listed in Vaal Colours we do

not know as this is before the establishment of the Club.

He would thus eventually be the first Vaal Athlete to complete 10 consecutive marathons in

Vaal colours.

Race No Name Birth Year Direction Time

1400 Ampie Hattingh 1935 Up 09:59:09

Comrades 1973

Race No Name Birth Year Direction Time

894 Jonathan Gardner Down 07:01:00

1400 Ampie Hattingh 1935 Down 07:47:00

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2 OCTOBER 1973 - 4 SEPTEMBER 1974

2ND Year of Existence

The 1st Annual General Meeting was held on 2 October 1973.

During this meeting two new management positions were obtained, namely Cross Country

Captain and Marathon Captain. The Committee elected for this year was as follows:

Chairman - Mr Japie van Rooyen

Vice Chairman - Mr Kobus Scholtz

Secretary - Mrs L Scholtz

Treasurer - Mr F Rayne

Main Coach - Mr Dawid Booysen

Club Captain - Mr Louis van Wijck

Cross Country Captain - Mr Daan Els

Marathon Captain - Mr Jonathan Gardner

Additional Members - Mr Sarel Myburgh

Mr Johan Roux

Mrs A Esterhuizen

Mr Joshua Loock

Mr W van der Merwe

Club Fees:

License Fee - R1.00 for seniors

R0.60 for juniors

Member Fee - R2.50 for seniors

R1.00 for juniors

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TRACK AND FIELD

A coaching course was held on 27 October 1973, after which a Junior Meeting was hosted

by Vaal Athletic Club. A profit raised by this event was R102.95.

Preparations are also underway for the annual meeting early January at Dick Fourie

Stadium. A decision was taken to advertise this event at the local “Inry Teater” (Drive In)

whereby flyers will be handed out.

A training course for athletes was held on 28 March 1974, presented by the German Trainer,

Ibe Becktholdt at Dr Malan Hoërskool in Meyerton.

The club rented a bus to take some athletes to an athletics meeting on 20 April 1974

presented by Rand Afrikaans University.

These athletes were:

Marie Barnard (High Jump) Johan Daffue (3 000m) Meiring Stigling (3 000m) Lorraine Boucher (200m) Anton vd Walt (800m) Koos Groenewald (Five Camp)

The decision was made that both the Chairman and the Secretary will receive honorarium of

R5.00 per season for telephone calls made on behalf of the club.

The matter of honorary colours has been discussed for the first time at the meeting held on 8

July 1974.

Koos Sutherland, one of the country’s famous road running athletes joins the Vaal Athletic

Club.

DICK FOURIE

On 4 February 1974 the club was informed that the storage area allocated to the club has

been finalised and is ready for occupation.

ROAD RUNNING

At this stage the club was only involved with track and field, as well as cross country events.

The first marathon hosted by the club will take place on 7 April 1974. This race will start at

Dick Fourie Stadium and follow to Rothdene through to Meyerton and the finish will be at

Dick Fourie Stadium again. Coca-Cola is the sponsor and the race will be named Coca-Cola

Marathon.

All the arrangements are handled by Mr Jonathan Gardner. A total of 300 athletes took part

in the marathon and the club’s Mr Jonathan Gardner receives a price for the first Vaal

Athletics Club runner home. The distance for this marathon was only 35km.

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During this year Alet Kleynhans enters for the Comrades Marathon. (Woman were excluded

from running, believing that they could not run that far and it was for white male athletes

only)

Beneath her entry form for the 1974 Comrades Marathon.

This entry raised heavy reaction from the Comrades Organisers as ladies were not allowed

to enter for the comrades during this time. Their comments as well as a copy of the rules

were send to Vaal Athletic Club.

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Alet Kleynhans, however did take part in the Comrades Marathon, but as an unofficial

athlete. Beneath a letter Vaal Athletic Club wrote to the Comrades Organisers as

explanation.

(On request to Comrades to verify that Alet did indeed participate, the following response was

received: (26 September 2018.))

We unfortunately don’t have any records for those who participated in the race unofficially (as they

were not real participants, no effort was made to record them). Those who have been recognized for

unofficial races have to provide the CMA with proof of their participation; this includes photography

of them completing the race and witness who will vouch for their presence.

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GENERAL

The club was informed by means of this letter received from the Southern Transvaal

Athletics Association that it has been formally affiliated.

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Manie Saayman’s Application for Membership – dated 20 February 1974

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Three athletes of the club took part in a 100 mile race. They were Manie Saayman (2nd

place), Ampie Hattingh (5th place) and Boet Rose.

Fifteen athletes entered for the Comrades Marathon. Manie Saayman received a gold

medal with 10th place with a time of 6h26:21. Jonathan Gardner received a silver medal.

(According to the Comrades results, Manie ran for Virginia Athletics Club in 1974 and not for

Vaal AC)

The official results show only the following athletes for Vaal AC.

CROSS COUNTRY

The annual cross country League took place on 15 June 1974 at Dick Fourie Stadium and

was hosted by Vaal Athletic Club. The entry fee was 30c for seniors and 20c for juniors.

During the winter months in 1974 the Vaal Athletics Club Senior Men won the Southern

Transvaal B League. Since then the club raised 19 athletes who earned Provincial Colours

in cross country during 1980.

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5 SEPTEMBER 1974 – 9 SEPTEMBER 1975

3rd Year of Existence

The 2nd Annual General Meeting is held on 4 September 1974. The Committee elected for

this year was as follows.

Chairman - Mr Louis van Wijck

Mr Louis van Wijck was Chairman

of the club from 1974 until 1981.

Vice Chairman - Mr Jonathan Gardner

Secretary - Mr Gert Potgieter

Treasurer - Mr Dirk Schoeman

Club Captain - Mr Danie du Plessis


Marathon Captain - Mr Koos Sutherland

Additional Members - Mr Jan Naude

Mr Johan Roux

Mr Johan Daffue (Snr)

Mr Bruce Mahood

Mr Manie Saayman

License Fee - R3.00 for Seniors

R1.00 for Juniors

Mr Louis van Wijck suggests that a President and Vice President be elected. This privilege

falls on Mr Syd Baker as President and Mr Oubaas Coetzee as Vice President.

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An interesting point raised at this meeting was that athletes did not have to wear license

numbers when taking part in races on Sundays, but have to wear license numbers on

Saturdays.

Mr Oubaas Coetzee – still actively involved with athletics.

ROAD RUNNING

On 7 October 1974 Mr Koos Sutherland suggested that a committee be elected out of

marathon athletes to raise funds to send some athletes overseas. This committee consisted

of the following athletes:

Chairman - Mr Jonathan Gardner

Additional Members - Mr Koos Sutherland

Mr Louis van Wijck

Mr Manie Saayman

This committee worked close with Mr Ashworth van Lions international to host a beer fest as

part of the fund raising arrangements. On 7 May 1975 an amount of R2 600.00 was raised.

Six athletes were selected to go to London – Brighton Marathon. They were Koos

Sutherland, Jonathan Gardner, Jimmy Kleyn, Jan Naude, Bruce Mahood, Ampie Hattingh.

Mr Jonathan Gardner arranged the second Vaal Marathon. Entry fees were R1.50 and

R2.00 for late entries. The Major started the race and Mrs Polson handed out the trophies.

350 Athletes took part in the marathon. Profits were R465.00.

CROSS COUNTRY

Mr Johan Daffue received Southern Transvaal colours for cross country.

The cross country league was held on 12 July 1975 at Dick Fourie Stadium. At the same

time Vaal Athletic Club athletes took part in the Johannesburg to Vereeniging relay and

achieved 4th place.

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COMRADES 1975

Mr Koos Sutherland achieved a 3rd place in the Comrades Marathon and received the Vaal

Triangle’s first award of Sportsmen of the Year. Furthermore the club’s athletes achieved 4

silver and 5 bronze medals.

Koos Sutherland was the first Vaal AC athlete to earn a gold medal at Comrades. He

would run three consecutive gold’s; finishing 3rd,4th and 10th in Vaal Colours.

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GENERAL

The subject of Honouree Colours and Merit Awards were raised at the meeting. The

following athletes were nominated to receive the club’s first merit awards for 1973 and 1974

seasons:

Cross Country - Mr Johan Daffue

Mr Anton van der Walt

Mr Jacques Roux

Mr Danie du Plessis

Marathon - Mr Manie Saayman

Track and Field - Marie Barnard

Theo Maritz

Meiring Stiglingh

The following athletes were nominated for merit awards for 1974 and 1975:

Andre Schlemmer Meiring Stiglingh Koos Sutherland

Johan Duffue Nellie Meyer Anne Robins

Louis van Wijck Marie Barnard Anton van der Walt

Jacques Roux Lorinda Nel Gitta Hubner

Messrs Koos Sutherland and Daan Els suggested the following criteria for selecting athletes

to receive honorary colours:

Marathon 2h30

Walking 20km 1h50

Walking 50km 5h00

Comrades Gold Medal

Pieter Korkie or Matopos 3h20

One Hour Race 11.5 miles

10 mile 51 minutes

25km 1h23

100 miler 14h00

Club clothing:

Vaal Athletics Club Colours (Vest) were formally accepted. It was an orange vest with the

wording “VAAL” in green on the front. It was later changed to read “Vaal Athletics”.

Club Newsletter:

During this year the Vaal Athletics Club newsletter was born. Mr Louis van Wijck was the

Editor with sub divisions for marathons (Mr Koos Sutherland), cross country (Mr Daan Els)

and track and field (Mr Potgieter).

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TRACK AND FIELD

Johan Daffue became Vaal Athletics Club first South African Champion when he won the

boys U/19 3 000m race. He received Springbok Colours for the 3 000m when he was a

student at the University of Stellenbosch.

Johan Daffue

A track and field event was hosted by Vaal Athletics Club on 9 November 1974. Funds

raised at this event included the selling of cold drinks (R10.00), a donation received from

“Dairy Maid” (R5.00), entry fees and kiosk profit (R161.00). The next event hosted by the

club took place on 11 January 1975 and a profit of R300.00 was made.

Herewith a list of track and field athletes for this year:

Johan Daffue 3000m and 1500m

Lorinda Nel 100m and 200m

Marie Barnard High Jump

Anton van der Walt 3000m and 1500m

Gitta Hubner Discus

Theo Maritz Long Jump

Rini Wernars Triple Jump

Dawid Booysen Shot Put

Anne Robins High Jump and Javelin

Nellie Meyer Shot Put

Louis van Wijck High Jump

Koos Groenewald Pentathlon / “Vyfkamp”

Meiring Stiglingh 3000m

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4th Year of Existence

The 3rd Annual General Meeting was held on 9 September 1975. The Committee elected for

this year was as follows.


Vice Chairman - Mr Jonathan Gardner

Secretary - Mr Johan Roux

Treasurer - Mr Jan Naude

Mr Jan Naude.

Club Captain - Mr Dirk Schoeman


Marathon Captain - Mr Koos Sutherland

Additional Members - Mr Jimmy Kleyn

Mr Ken Poxon

Mr At Coetzer

Mr Bruce Mahood

Mr Danie du Plessis

Mr Robbie Robins

Mr Dan Jelinek

Mr Japie van Rooyen

President - Mr Syd Baker

Vice President - Mr Oubaas Coetzee

During this year Messrs Lukas Aggouras, Leon Ferreira and Willie van der Westhuizen also

joined the committee in place of Messrs Jimmy Kleyn, Daan Els and Dirk Schoeman.

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TRACK AND FIELD

On 25 October 1975 the Track and Field Event took place. Entry fee was 50c for adults and

20c for children. The next open event was hosted on 10 January 1976. The profit for this

event was R167.67.

Five junior athletes, all girls U/18 has been chosen for Southern Transvaal to take part in the

S.A. Junior Championships which took place in Port Elizabeth on 9 and 10 April 1976.

These girls were:

Nellie Meyer Shot Put and Javelin

Marie Barnard High Jump

Michel Mower 100m and 200m

Anne Robins Javelin

Lorinda Nel 200m and 400m

Mr Lucas Aggouras suggested that Sub-Junior Training should be considered. This was

raised with Mr Maree, Chairman of the local Primary Schools Athletics Committee who

agreed to implement such training programme. Training will be done by Mr Aggouras at

Dick Fourie Stadium.

The “Vaalweekblad” awarded Marie Barnard as Sport Star for the week on 6 November

1975.

GENERAL

The standards for Honorary Colours were reviewed as there was a dispute. The standard

will be set on the Portuguese Table of 850 points or the first 3 places at the S.A.

Championships. This rule will apply for cross country as well.

Honorary Colours would be a Club Blazer with an Honorary Badge. The club would carry

25% of the cost towards the blazer.

The decision was made that R10.00 per month will be given to the Chairman and Secretary

for telephone calls made on behalf of the club.

Mr Jan Naude suggested that members attending meetings in Johannesburg on behalf of

the club should be reimbursed for travelling costs. An amount of R5.00 per meeting was

approved.

Mr Louis van Wijck will be responsible for the newsletter. He will be assisted with articles

from Mr Koos Sutherland for the marathon-, Mr Danie du Plessis for the cross country- and

by Mr Robins for the track and field sections.

During this year the matter was raised if Sasolburg members can take part in the track and

field, as well as cross country events of Vaal and earn points. This point was addressed to

the Free State Athletics Union. Notification from the Southern Transvaal Athletics Union was

received that the athletes can take part as B-Members.

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During June 1976 it was announced that Southern Transvaal Athletics Management was

busy with re-structuring.

Notice of an General Meeting to take place on 9 August 1976 was received to elect a

Amature Sport Union for the Vaal Triangle. On 10 August 1976 a Vaal Triangle Sports

Federation was established with official colours of turquoise and black.

ROAD RUNNING

The third Vaal Marathon was held on 14 March 1976 which was sponsored by Coca-Cola

and was organised by Mr Bruce Mahoon. This marathon was seen as a big success with a

profit of R889.00. 460 Athletes took part in the marathon. Mr Koos Sutherland achieved a

second place in a time of 2hrs32:23.

Mr Koos Sutherland also achieved a second place at the London to Brighton Marathon in a

time of 5hrs26:54. Alet Kleynhans took part as an un-official athlete and finished the

marathon in a time of 8hr26.

Manie Saayman left the club to start work in Paris, France for three years. He and his family

will only return to South Africa in 1979.

Mr Jan Naude took part in the Veteran Marathon on 4 July 1976 and finished in 7th place in a

time of 2hrs46:31.

Comrades Marathon 1976.

Twelve Vaal Athletes took part in the Comrades Marathon. Mr Koos Sutherland finished in

4th place in a time of 5hrs53:26 and received a gold medal.

Four athletes achieved silver medals namely, Jonathan Gardner, Ampie Hattingh, Jan

Naude and Hennie van Zijl.

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Two Oceans Marathon 1976

The first Vaal AC member to run the Two Oceans is Koos Sutherland.

CROSS COUNTRY

The club did not host a cross country event this year.

Vaal Athletic Club took part in the relay from Johannesburg to Vereeniging and won the B-

Division for the second year. The team consisted of Jonathan Gardner, Jan Naude, Charles

Naude, Danume Jelinek, Hennie van Zijl, Robbie Gray, Koos Sutherland and Johan Daffue.

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The 4th Annual General Meeting was held on 22 September 1976. Although the positions of

elected Committee Members are not known, they were as follows:

Mr Louise van Wijck

Mr Jonathan Gardner

Mr Jan Naude

Mr Koos Sutherland

Mr Danie du Plessis

Mr Robbie Robins

Mr Willie van der Westhuizen

Mr Sarel van Tonder

Mr Dan Jelinek

Mr Lukas Aggouras

Mr Leon Ferreira

Mr Harm Kruger

TRACK AND FIELD

A Junior Even was hosted on 6 November 1976 at Dick Fourie Stadium. The Vaal

Championships will be held on 15 January 1977 at D.P de Villiers Stadium in Sasolburg for

the first time. Advertising was done at the Drive-Inn, Radio, TV and Local Newspapers. The

profit made at this event was R573.49.

After hosting this event the Southern Transvaal Athletics Union announced that a yearly

league will be hosted by the club in Sasolburg.

Four athletes took part in the S.A. Championships:

Johan Daffue 2nd position in 3000m Gitta Hubner 3rd position Nellie Meyer 3rd position Dan Jelinek

Ken Poxon achieved 2 silver medals and two bronze medals at the S.A. Master

Championships.

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GENERAL

Honorary Colours are given to the following athletes:

Johan Daffue Marietjie Barnard Koos Sutherland Gitta Hubner The following athletes achieved merit awards:

Jonathan Gardner Jan Naude Dan Jelinek

Anne Robins Nellie Meyer Lorinda Nel

Michel Mower

Marietjie Ceronio (née Barnard) still a member of Vaal Athletic Club.

CLUB CLOTHING

It became a major problem to get a supplier for club clothing. Eventually Boet Beukes Sport

became the sole supplier of club clothing. The club vest with dark green and white stripes

has been decided on and will be available from September 1977.

CROSS COUNTRY

The Annual League was held on 11 June 1977 and was a great success. Jan Naude won

the veteran section.

Vaal Athletic Club once again won the relay from Johannesburg to Vereeniging.

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ROAD RUNNING

The forth Vaal Marathon took place on 20 March 1977 with Coca-Cola as sponsor. Almost

800 athletes took part in this marathon.

New members to road running during this year were Jonathan Such, John Nott and Piet

Engelbreght. Ampie Hattingh and Koos Sutherland resigned as members.

Mr Koos Sutherland suggested that a full team be send to the Two Oceans and Kroonstad

Marathons. 12 Athletes took part in the Kroonstad Marathon and the club sponsored R5.00

per athlete for their costs.

Jonathan Such finishes in 4th place in the “Goue Weste Marathon” and Koos Sutherland won

the Barberton Marathon.

TWO OCEANS.

5 Athletes went to the Two Oceans Marathon. Mr Koos Sutherland was sponsored by the

sponsor of the Two Oceans and the other four athletes received R150.00 each from the

club.

(According to the official results from Two Oceans, no athletes of VAAL AC took part.

The following two athletes appear under Vaal A, others could not be traced)

Koos Sutherland 3:32:49 12th Position

Jonathan Such 4:02:01 78th Position.

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COMRADES 1977

19 Athletes took part in the Comrades Marathon. Koos Sutherland finishes in the 10th place.

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The 5th Annual General Meeting was held on 22 September 1977. The elected Committee

Members for this year was as follows.


Vice Chairman - Mr Robbie Robins

Secretary - Mr Danie du Plessis

Treasurer - Mr Willie van der Westhuizen

Cross Country Captain - Mr Dan Jelinek

Marathon Captain - Mr Jonathan Gardner

Additional Members - Mr Lucas Aggouras

Mr Sarel van Tonder

Mr Danie Terblanche

Mr Jonathan Such

Mr Bruce Mahood

Mr Piet Engelbrecht

President - Mr Japie v Rooyen

Club Fees

Sub-Juniors - R1.50

Juniors - R2.00

Seniors - R4.00

The club welcomes Mr Deon Holtzhausen who applied for membership on 1 August 1978.

GENERAL

On 2 March 1978 the club was informed that the Southern Transvaal Athletics Unions will

change their colours to the same as worn by the different Transvaal Sport Affiliations.

The Vereeniging Amature Sports Union was established on 2 April 1978. The club joined

this Union as an affiliation and requested that Mr Lucas Aggouras attend the meetings on

the club’s behalf.

In order to obtain Transvaal Colours athletes would have to attend Transvaal

Championships twice as a senior, or a junior, an once at the S.A. Championships.

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Merit awards are given to the following members:

Jonathan Gardner Mandy Geldenhuys Jan Naude

Anne Robins Danume Jelinek Susan Lion-Cachet

Mandy Roux Gerrit Terblanche Koos Sutherland

Sandra Terblanche Jonathan Such Gitta Hubner

Ken Poxon Johan Daffue

Honorary colours is awarded to Johan Fourie.

Famous athletes who joined the club during this year:

The Buter Family

Chris de Waal Nico Ras Bobby Snelling

Cyrill Buttrick Deon Holtzhausen

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CLUB CLOTHING

Once again problems are experienced with the supply of club clothing. Gerald Bosch Sports

were approached as alternative supplier.

ROAD RUNNING

The Fifth Vaal Marathon was held on 12 March 1978. The start and finished was moved to

the Usco Grounds. Almost 1 000 athletes took part in the marathon which made it the

biggest standard marathon hosted in South Africa. Profits were R1 455.32.

Deon Holtzhausen won the Barberton to Nelspruit Marathon.

Manie Saayman won the 100 mile track meeting in Durban in a time of 13hr50.

The following athletes were nominated to partake in the Transvaal Marathon Team for the

SA Marathon Championships, namely Deon Holtzhausen, Hennie van Zijl and Jonathan

Such.

For the first time a weekly 8km time trial took place in Vanderbijlpark with Deon Holtzhausen

in charge.

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COMRADES 1978

36 Vaal Athletes ran the Comrades Marathon. Jonathan Gardner finished in 69th place.

TWO OCEANS

(According to the official results from Two Oceans, no athletes of VAAL AC took part

in the 1978 race.)

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TRACK AND FIELD

Two Sub-Junior events were hosted at Dick Fourie Stadium on 19 October 1977 and 2

November 1977 with Lukas Aggouras in charge and was a big success.

The Vaal Championships was held on 14 January 1978 at the D P de Villiers Stadium in

Sasolburg. A major fund raiser was lodge and donations were received from Piet Bosman

Tyres, Katbochem, Iscor, Metal Box, Samancor and Massey Ferguson. Messrs Owen van

Niekerk and Bart Pieterse are the Public Announcers. The profit made at this championship

was R664.16 with a total of 1 500 spectators.

The TV coverage of the Vaal Championship of 1978 was a great success. Distinctively to

the late seventies, the power of the club was in track and field where our athletes make their

mark in Southern Transvaal athletics. It was not strange to see up to 30 athletes on a

Saturday who took part in Southern Transvaal Championships. Even at Provincial and

National events athletes like Anne Robins, Sandra Terblanche, Susan Lion-Cachet, Herman

Verster, Gitta Hubner, Theo Maritz, Annette and Henk van Wijck earned their respect and

kept this clubs’ name high.

On 11 February 1978 five club athletes, namely Louis van Wijck (Manager), Annette van

Wijck, Gitta Hubner, Susan Lion-Cachet, Herman Venske and Henk van Wijck took part at

the first Multiracial Championships which was held in Otjiwarongo in South West Africa.

37

CROSS COUNTRY

The annual event is once again hosted by Vaal Athletic Club on 10 June 1978 and took

place at the Vaal Triangle Technicon Grounds.

Four athletes were chosen to represent Transvaal at the SA Championships in

Bloemfontein. They were Jan Naude, Johan Daffue, Many Roux and Miriam Geldenhuys.

Vaal’s famous veteran team. Back – Chris Adams, C du Toit, Jurg Smit, Sam McBride and

Wynand Minnie. Front – Louis van Wijck, Len Smith, Manie Saayman, Jan Naude and Gert

Buter.

38






Vice Chairman - Mr Lukas Aggouras

Treasurer - Mr Jonathan Such

Cross Country Captain - Mr Jan Naude

Marathon Captain - Mr Deon Holtzhausen

Track and Field Captain - Mr Henk van Wijck

Additional Members - Mr Jonathan Gardner

Mr Danie du Plessis

Mr Sarel van Tonder

Mr Danie Terblanche

Mr Bruce Mahood

Mr Piet Engelbrecht

President - Mr Japie van Rooyen

GENERAL

Honorary Colours are awarded to Jan Naude, Herman Venske, Susan Lion-Cachet, Manie

Saayman, Henk van Wijck, Sandra Terblanche and Annette van Wijck.

Merit awards were handed over to Gitta Hubner, Johan Fourie, Mandy Roux, Gerrit

Terblanche, Deon Holtzhausen, Hennie van Zyl, Johan Daffue, Marie Geldenhuys, Michael

Nott and Danie du Plessis.

New members who joined the club during this year were Robin Swatton, Arthur Doyle and

Ian Tucker. The registered membership calculated to 147 members.

A decision was made that the newsletter would be distributed every second month with news

not exceeding three pages. Mr Harm Kruger will photostat the newsletter at no cost. The

Secretary was requested to obtain quotes to purchase a hand model photostat machine.

A request was raised for assistance with transport to different events. Mr Piet Engelbrech

volunteered to speak to different garages, Technical High School, Carel de Wet, Eureka

School and Iscor, but without success.

A R50.00 donation was requested from the club in order to send Mr Wally Hayward to

America to promote Athletics South Africa.

39

The criteria to obtain Honorary Colours are once again looked at. The following was agreed

upon:

Cross Country - A place between the first three athletes at the Transvaal

Championships or a place between the first six athletes at

the S.A. Championships.

Marathon - Seniors - 2hrs30 (In land)

2hrs28 (Coastal)

Veterans - 2hrs37 (In land)

2hrs35 (Coastal)

Half Marathon - Seniors - 1hrs10

Veterans - 1hrs13

100 Miler - 14hrs00 (In land)

13hrs13 (Coastal)

Comrades Marathon - 10 Silver medals in club colours

10 Mile Track - 51 minutes

General - Honorary Colours will be awarded to non-active

club members for outstanding work done for the club.

On 7 August 1979 the first three non-white athletes joined the club, namely – Michael

Mofokeng, L.Z. Cita and J Jaase.

ROAD RUNNING

The following highlights were minuted:

Johan Daffue - 2nd place at the Harrismith Mountain Race

Hennie van Zyl - 2nd place at the George Claassen Marathon

Deon Holtzhausen - Won the Reitz Half Marathon and 16th place at the

Comrades Marathon in a time of 6hrs19:14

Jan Naude - 2hrs42 at the Transvaal Marathon Championships

John Nott - 1st Master at the Blue Bird Marathon

Deon Holtzhausen got permission that the weekly time trials can be held at the Old Vesco

Animal Farm.

Club Members were urged not to partake in fun runs to avoid disqualification as a registered

athlete.

Deon Holtzhausen achieved a 13th place in a time of 2hrs26:36 in the “Goue Weste

Marathon”.

40

On 3 March 1979 the 6th Vaal Marathon took place. 949 Athletes took part in the marathon.

Profit of R1 531.75 was made. The marathon was won by Bruce Fordyce in a time of

2hrs28:13 with Hennie van Zyl of Vaal Athletic Club in the 4th place.

COMRADES 1979

37 Vaal Athletes took part in the Comrades Marathon of which 13 were novices. 5 Athletes

achieved silver medals, namely – Deon Holtzhausen, Pieter de Villiers, Jonathan Gardner,

Jonathan Such and Tony Raijmakers.

41

TWO OCEANS 1979

A team of seven athletes were send to the Two Oceans Marathon. Deon Holtzhausen,

Hennie van Zyl, Jan Naude, Bobby Snelling, Roy van Helsdingen, Tony Raijmakers and

Sakkie Goss.

CROSS COUNTRY

Authorisation was received that the annual league could once again be hosted on 14 July

1979 at the ground of the Vaal Triangle Technicon which would be a multi-racial event. For

the first time a sub-junior event will also be included in the programme.

The following athletes represented Transvaal at the S.A. Cross Country Championships:

Jan Naude Robert Gray Marietjie Barnard

Helena Heymans Mandy Roux Miriam Geldenhuys

Willie de Villiers Annelene Buter Nico Ras

Vaal Athletic Club once again participated in the relay between Johannesburg and

Vereeniging.

42

TRACK AND FIELD

Two athletes who made Vaal Athletic Club very proud in this year were Annette and Henk

van Wijck. These photos speak for themselves.

43

44

A Sub-Junior League was hosted on 14 November 1978 and the Vaal Athletics

Championships were held on 20 January 1979 at the D P de Villiers Stadium. Messrs Bart

Pieterse and Owen van Niekerk were the announcers. A profit of R1 408.18 was made.

For the first time items for Sub-Juniors and Juniors were presented. Gitta Hubner won the

discus with her best distance in South Africa of 49.74m. Susan Lion-Cachet won the javelin

for girls U/18 with a distance of 43.42m.

Herman Venske (boys U/19) won the 100m in 11 seconds and the 200m in 22.6 seconds.

On 19 February 1979 Gitta Hubner bettered her distance to 54.46m, which was very close to

the S.A. record of 56.72m.

Four club members were chosen to attend the S.A. Junior Championships, namely – Susan

Lion-Cachet, Sandra Terblanche, Reinette Liebenberg and Herman Venske.

Sandra Terblanche took part in the 200m at the S.A. Junior Championships in Stellenbosch

and achieved another win (24 seconds), twice in a row in her age category. In 1977 while

she was still U/14 she also won the 100m and 200m for girls U/16.

Gitta Hubner, at the age of 35, achieved her 4th bronze medal at the S.A. Championship in

Potchefstroom for discus with a distance of 49.64.

Herman Venske won a gold medal as participant in the Transvaal Relay Team of 4 x 100m,

which also included Willie Smit and Erich Essman.

Annette van Wijck took 2nd place in the 100m hurdles in a time of 19.93 seconds.

45






Vice Chairman - Mr Lukas Aggouras

Secretary - Mr Danie du Plessis


Cross Country Captain - Mr Deon Holtzhausen

Marathon Captain - Mr Manie Saayman

Track and Field - Mr Skip Scheepers

Additional Members - Mr Jan Naude

Mr Leon Kahn

Mr Tony Raijmakers

President - Mr Jappie van Rooyen

GENERAL

Honorary Colours were awarded to the following:

Mandy Roux Deon Holtzhausen Louis van Wijck

Merit Awards were handed out to:

Reinette Liebenberg Hennie Heymans Sandra Terblanche

Marietjie Barnard Susan Lion-Cachet Jan Naude

Herman Venske Roy van Helsdingen Annelene Buter

Nico Ras Willie de Villiers Marie Geldenhuys

Henk van Wijck Peter de Villiers (Snr) Annette van Wijck

Johan Daffue Peter de Villiers (Jnr) Ken Poxon

Gitta Hubner Hennie van Zyl

46

New registered members are Louis Harmse, Graham Smith and Hennie Grimsel.

Johan Daffue earned Springbok Colours during this year.

Manie Saayman organises a club day for all club members on 3 May 1980 which was a first

for the Club and a great success. Manie Saayman also includes other events in his

marathon newsletter.

An official letter from Sasol Athletics Club was received, accusing Vaal Athletic Club of

attracting away their athletes. A consensus was reached between the two clubs at the

Sanlam One Hour Event and the Vaal Athletics Championship.

The Orange Vaal Administration Board approached Vaal Athletic Club with support to

establish a black athletic club.

The appointment a part-time secretary to join management was approved on 2 September

1980.

TRACK AND FIELD

The Annual Vaal Athletics Championships took place on 12 January 1980 at the D P de

Villiers Stadium. Sponsors were – Nordberg, Massey Ferguson, Ultra Kitchens, AECI,

Paxinos, Tosa, Fedmis, 3M, Holiday Inn, Multi Market, Sand Distributors, Epol, OFS Tyres

and Meyerton Steel Products.

This Championship was one of the most successful ones hosted by the club.

ROAD RUNNING

Mr Jan Naude suggested that the club hosted a 16km race, but the decision was made that

this should be put on hold until after the Marathon Championships.

The use of the Vesco-Animal Farm for time trials was cancelled by the Vanderbijlpark

Municipality, thus an alternative venue should be sourced.

Vaal Athletic Club in conjunction with the Holiday Inn organised a 4km fun run and 8km race

on 19 April 1980, but unfortunately only 150 athletes entered.

During the 7th Vaal Marathon, some of the front runners deviated from the route and the club

was fined by the Transvaal Road Running Association with a fine of R100.00.

47

COMRADES 1980

48

TWO OCEANS 1980

CROSS COUNTRY

Mr Gert Buter was appointed as Cross Country Captain on 6 May 1980. Mr Deon

Holtzhausen will still be part as additional member.

The Annual Cross Country League took place on 21 June 1980 at the Vaal Triangle

Technicon Grounds.

A team was send to the Eastern Transvaal Cross Country under management of Mr Gert

Buter.

The Club had a very successful Cross Country season and the following from newspapers

say it all.

49

Herewith snippets of articles which made our club proud of our cross country athletes.

50


9TH Year of Existence




Vice Chairman - Mr Chris Adams

Secretary - Mrs Hettie Buter


Cross Country Captain - Mr Gert Buter

Ass. Cross Country - Mr Jan Naude

Marathon Captain - Manie Saayman

Ass. Marathon - Tony Raijmakers

Track and Field - Miss Marietjie Barnard

Sub-Junior Captain - Mr Sarel Bekker

Additional Members - Mr Danie Terblanche

Mr Roy van Helsdingen

Mr Arthur Doyle

Mr Chris de Waal

Mr Flip Venter

Mr Ian Tucker

Mr Deon Holtzhausen


51

GENERAL

Honorary Colours were given to the following athletes:

Fanie de Kok Jonathan Gardner Marietjie Barnard

Eugene Botha Reinette Liebenberg Willie de Villiers

Merit Awards were handed out to:

Jan Naude Deon Holtzhausen Hennie van Zyl

P de Villiers (Snr) Manie Saayman Roy van Helsdingen

Sandra Terblanche J de Preez Gitta Hubner

Ludwig Myburgh R Viljoen D Viljoen

Nico Ras Uwe Mollers Mandy Roux

Karen Pretorius Erna Schutte D Kotze

Ronel Luyt P de Villiers (Jnr) Danie de Kock

Marianda Eras A Liebenberg Anton Nel

Miriam Geldenhuys Annelene Buter

The club members increased from 187 to 290 members during this year.

After seven chairs of Chairmanship, Mr Louis van Wijck resigned from the Committee.

The decision was made that a formal track suit should be made available for the members.

It was decided on green with beige stripes. Ertjies Bezuidenhout was contacted as

alternative supplier of club clothing.

A club day was once again organised for 2 May 1981 with a total of 350 guests.

Iscor announced that they want to start a new club in Vanderbijlpark with the name of

Vanderbijlpark Athletics Club.

52

New members that joined the club during this year – Ernest Tjela, Joe Schoeman, Len

Smith, Victor Frazao and Sarel Ceronio.

CROSS COUNTRY

Nico Ras and Mandy Roux were selected for the S.A. Junior Cross Country Team and

fifteen other athletes for Transvaal Championships.

Men - Deon Holtzhausen

Boys U/19 - Nico Ras and Uwe Mollers

Boys U/17 - Fanie de Kock

Boys U/15 - Albert van Deventer

Ladies - Marietjie Barnard

Girls U/19 - Mandy Roux and Erna Schutte

Girls U/16 - Ilse Schutte

Girls U/14 - Annelene Buter, Mariaanne Eras, Juliet Prowse and Alta

Boshoff

Mr Gert Buter wanted to send a team to Maselspoort, but it was rejected by the committee

due to high expenses.

Vaal Athletics Ladies won the league in completion with fifteen other clubs. These ladies

were: Erna Schutte, Mandy Roux, Annelene Buter, Marietjie Barnard, Marianda Eras and

Ilse Schutte.

53

TRACK AND FIELD

Six Vaal Athletes of the club represent Transvaal in Bloemfontein at the Junior S.A.

Championships. Sandra Terblanche won the 200m for girls U/19 in a new S.A. Record time.

Another ten athletes earned Sub-Junior Colours.

On 24 January 1981 the Vaal Championship is hosted by Vaal Athletic Club and Sasol

Athletic Club at D P de Villiers Stadium .

ROAD RUNNING

900 Athletes entered the 8th Vaal Marathon.

Deon Holtzhausen won the Bergville, Jock of the Bushveld and Thaba Kchu Ultra in three

consecutive weeks.

Hennie van Zyl ran the fastest marathon for Vaal Athletic Club in a time of 2hrs23:11 at the

Transvaal Championships.

54

Manie Saayman won the Washie 100 Miler in a time of 13hrs48 and Arthur Doyle finished in

18hrs23.

Vaal Athletic Club sends 50 athletes on a sponsored tour to De Wetsdorp where Deon

Holtzhausen won in a time of 2hrs27. Five Vaal athletes finished within the first 10 positions.

Vaal Athletic Club sponsored R50.00 to Sonja Laxton to run a race in New York.

Organisation commenced to host a Half Marathon Race during November 1981 in

Vanderbijlpark.

55

During this year the Vosloo Park time trial team was struggling to get things going, whereas

the Vanderbijlpark team already had a 4 and 8 km route in place.

The start of the time trial during 1980.

56

COMRADES 1981

Vaal athletes achieved 8 silver and 40 bronze medals during this year’s Comrades Marathon

with Jonathan Gardner who achieved his 10th silver medal.

57

TWO OCEANS 1981

58




Members for this year was as follows:

Chairman - Mr Chris Adams

Vice Chairman - Mr Gert Buter


Treasurer - Mr Cyrill Buttrick


Ass. Cross Country - Mr Sam McBride

Marathon Captain - Mr Arthur Doyle

Ass. Marathon - Mr Tony Raijmakers

Track and Field Captain - Mr Louis van Wijck

Sub-Junior Captain - Mr Gert Engelbreght

Additional Members - Mr Chris de Waal

Mr Flip Venter

Mr Johan Calitz

Mr Louis Harmse

Mr Ray Powell

Mr J Prinsloo

Mr Manie Saayman


Membership Fee - R10.00 for seniors

R4.00 for juniors

R2.00 for sub-juniors

59

GENERAL

Honorary Colours are given to the following athletes:

Deon Holtzhausen Marie du Toit P Barnard

Juliet Prowse C du Toit Bobby Snelling

Uwe Mollers Erna Schutte J van der Merwe

Jonathan Gardner Mandy Roux Nico Ras

R Bekker T du Bruyn Manie Saayman

I Schutte Eugene Botha R van Vuuren

Roy van Helsdingen R Luyt Fanie de Kock

D Jordaan J du Preez Jan Naude

Marianda Eras S Bekker E de Villiers

Arthur Doyle Annelene Buter A van Deventer

M Annandale Louis Harmse Marietjie Barnard

A Boshoff J Slabbert E Venske

The awarding of honorary colours was once again raised at the meeting and the following

criteria were set:

SENIORS VETERANS MASTERS LADIES

Coast In-land Coast In-land Coast In-land Coast In-land

16km 52 min 54 min 56 min 58 min 61 min 63 min 60 min 62 min

21km 68 min 71 min 73 min 76 min 80 min 83 min On merit

42km 2h24 2h28 2h32 2h36 2h42 2h46 On merit

160km 13h30 14h00 15h00

Comrades Gold or <6h00 6h30 7h30

10 Comrades marathons in club colours

60

For track and field, honorary colours are earned for 900 points on the IAAF Tables or within

the first ten at the S.A. Championships. From girls U/16 and boys U/17 can also qualify.

On cross country athletes qualify for honorary colours to achieve a 1st place at the Transvaal

Championships or between the first six places at the S.A. Championships.

Another successful club day was organised by Manie Saayman on 1 May 1982 in Sasolburg.

During this year the Vanderbijlpark Athletics Club was established and Deon Holtzhausen

joined them.

New members joining the club during this year – Ronnie Hamilton, Wynand Minnie, Roelof

van Wyk and John Silverthorne.

Mr Hennie van Zyl resigned during the year from the club.

ROAD RUNNING

The suggested half marathon in Vanderbijlpark was not approved due to clashes with some

other events. A sub-committee was elected to start with planning for the this event to be

held on 17 November 1982. Negotiations with General Tyres, Holiday Inn and

Vaalweekblad were made but unsuccessful. This event was eventually cancelled.

Arthur Doyle was in charge of the arrangements for the 9th Vaal Marathon which was

sponsored by Coca-Cola. The winner was Patrick Nhauro in a winning time of 2hrs18 which

was an in-land record.

61

Arthur Doyle, the well known and most active member at all levels.

Manie Saayman achieved a S.A. record for the Washie 100 Miler in a time of 13hrs13. This

record today still remains.

TWO OCEANS 1982

COMRADES 1982

Louis Harmse finished in 21st position at the Comrades Marathon.

62

63

TRACK AND FIELD

The Vaal Championships were held on 9 January 1982 at the D P de Villiers Stadium in

Sasolburg. Once again both Vaal Athletic Club and Sasol Athletic Club were successful in

hosting this event.

Deon Oosthuizen sets a new S.A. record in “vyfkamp”, whilst Edwin Venske sets a S.A.

record in the 5 000m walking.

Four ladies represented Transvaal at the S.A. Championships, namely Marianda Eras,

Annelene Buter, Ronel Luyt and Juliet Prowse.

64





Chairman - Mr Chris Adams

Vice Chairman - Mr Gert Buter


Treasurer - Mr Cyrill Buttrick

Cross Country Captain - Mr Bobby Snelling

Ass. Cross Country - Mr Sam McBride



Track and Field - Mr William van Blerk

Sub-Junior Captain - Mr J van Rooyen


Mr Flip Venter

Mr Johan Calitz

Mr Louis Harmse

Mr Ray Powell

Mr Robin Swatton

Mr D Anderson

Mr Louis van Wijck


Vice President - Mr Manie Saayman

65

GENERAL

Honorary Colours were given to the following athletes:

Ernest Tjela (Half Marathon) Marie du Toit (3rd place at S.A.’s)

Edwin Venske (1st place at S.A.’s) Deon Oosthuizen (1st place at S.A.’s)

Merit awards were handed out to the following athletes:

Christa Geldenhuys F Venter B Lion-Cachet

Ronel Luyt Annelene Buter Juliet Prowse

Marianda Eras Deon Labuschagne Louis van Wijck

Pieter Westley Jan Naude Nico Ras

Eugene Botha Bobby Snelling Marietjie Barnard

Manie Saayman Louis Harmse R Miche

Graham Smith

Trevor Nienaber – A great supporter of sport in the Vaal Triangle and Vaal Athletic Club. He

has been the sponsor of T-shirts for the Comrades athletes for many year

New athletes joining the club during this year – Johannes Mazibuko, Louis Claassen, Dave

Roux, Ampie Hatting and Trevor Nienaber.

Rumours are going around that the newly established Vanderbijlpark Athletics Club is busy

breaking up and Deon Holtzhausen joined Vaal Athletic Club again.

The yearly club day has been arranged for 16 April 1983 and Bruce Fordyce, Koos

Sutherland and Dick Welsh are invited as guests.

66

Another person will be appointed to assist the Treasurer with his duties – this appointment is

given to Elmarie Buter

During this year the newsletter is done by Mr Gert Buter. It has been decided that the

responsibility for the newsletter should be a separate person on the Committee.

New track suits are once again discussed. The decision is made that green and white track

suits will be sold for R25.00 through the club.

TRACK AND FIELD

Vaal Athletic Club and Sasol Athletic Club hosted the Vaal Championships again. Robin

Swatton was in charge of cold drink sales and Cyrill Buttrick in charge of the entry gates.

Profit were more than R2 000.00 for this event.

Juliet Prowse achieved a 1st place at the S.A. Junior Championships in the 1 500m.

ROAD RUNNING

Arthur Doyle is once again the organiser of the 10th Vaal Marathon sponsored by Coca-Cola.

A half marathon in Vanderbijlpark was planned with Tony Raijmakers as Head Organiser.

The following companies were approached for sponsorship, but without success - Pick &

Pay, Cargo Carriers, Vital Meat, Alco Engineering and the OK Bazaars. Eventually Sasol

Motor & Engineering Works and Kwamasiza Sports agreed to sponsor the expenses.

Group runs in light of the upcoming comrades marathon were very popular. Five group runs

took place until end May 1983.

Six athletes planned to go to Greece – Deon Holtzhausen, Louis Harmse, Bobby Snelling, T

van Rooyen, Dana Coetzee and A van der Westhuizen.

67

COMRADES 1983

80 Athletes took part in the event.

68

TWO OCEANS 1983

69

TRIATHLON

For the first time triathlon is introduced to athletes through the Daily Mail Event.

CROSS COUNTRY

The Vaal Athletics Veteran team finished in 4th place at the Johannesburg to Vereeniging

Relay.

The boys U/19 won the Vaal League and the Senior Men finished 2nd at the S.A.

Championships.

70





Chairman - Mr Gert Buter

Vice Chairman - Mr Manie Saayman


Treasurer - Mr Robin Swatton

Cross Country Captain - Mr Bobby Snelling

Ass. Cross Country - Mr Len Smith



Track and Field -

Sub-Junior Captain -

President - Mr Louis van Wijck

Vice President - Mr Jan Naude


Mr Flip Venter

Mr Louis Harmse

Mr Ray Powell

Mr Nico Botha

Mr W P van Niekerk

Mr Brian Lotter

Newsletter - Manie Saayman

Gert Buter is elected as Chairman for the 12th and 13th year. He will leave his mark in Cross

Country and Bi / Tri –Athlon.

During this year Manie Saayman took over the Newsletter.

71

GENERAL

A suggestion has been made that an athlete of the month should be nominated out of each

category and price money of R25.00 should be given to each.

The highly successful club day was once again organised by Manie Saayman on 19 May

1984. The invited guests were Johan Fourie, Allan Rob, Koos Sutherland and some athletes

from the Nelspruit Athletics Club. The question about the admission of black athletes came

to the fore.

On the 12th of June 1984 a decision is made to allow 30 black athletes and that any

additional athletes would be directed to black athletic clubs.

The decision was taken that a Secretary would man an office as from 1 May 1984 with

specific office hours and a club telephone for use for club matters only.

72

Honorary Colours has been given to Juliet Prowse (1st position at the S.A.’s 1 500m and 3rd

position at S.A.’s Cross Country).

Merit Awards were handed to the following athletes:

Louis van Wijck Jan Naude Bobby Snelling

J Swarts Johan Daffue Ernest Tjela

Marietjie Barnard T van Rensburg Ronel Luyt

Eugene Botha Pieter Westley J Erasmus

C Geldenhuys D Labuschagne E Steyn

Marianda Eras Manie Saayman Ronnie Hamilton

Graham Smith D Holtzhausen Louis Harmse

Dana Coetzee P Henderson Chris Adams

P Spence

New members that joined the club during the year were – Annemarie Leonard, Theo Viljoen,

Charles Panaino, Michael Gaade, Phillip Maphumulo, Elias Stemmer, Mark Madumise and

JB van Zyl. The club had 400 members for this year. Ernest Tjela resigned from the club.

73

TRACK AND FIELD

The certificates for the Vaal Championships which were held on 21 January 1984 were

sponsored by Saambou. Coca-Cola sponsored the cold drinks to the value of R230.00 and

their logo was advertised on the programme and a banner was put up at the stadium. Robin

Swatton was in charge of entries and Jan Naude of the selling of cold drinks. Profit made at

this event was R3 668.00. Just over 1 600 entries were sold.

ROAD RUNNING

The first half marathon was held in Vanderbijlpark with a total of 394 entries. A sponsor was

obtained with sponsorship of R1 350.00. Profits made for this event was R484.00. Another

race is planned for November 1984 with Louis Harmse as organiser.

The time trials were supported well during this year. Brian Lotter undertook to obtain a

trophy for the best time trial athlete. This trophy was sponsored by Trevor Nienaber which

was named the Vereeniging Bolt & Nut Trophy. Arthur Doyle organised time trial for every

second and fourth week to take place at Unitaspark. On 14 December 1983 time trials

started again at Flora Gardens in Vanderbijlpark. An inter-district time trial competition was

held at Vosloo Park with Vereeniging winning this event.

Four members took part in a 100 miler, namely : Manie Saayman, Graham Smith, Ronnie

Hamilton and Kobus Nortje.

Pick and Pay approached the club to organise a 15km race on 7 July 1984 and 303 athletes

entered. Profit of R1 300.00 was made at this event. The Vaalweekblad also requested

assistance from the club to host a fun run on 18 August 1984. The Vereeniging Mayors run

held on 16 June 1984 was also assisted by Arthur Doyle.

The Vaal Marathon was again sponsored by Coca-Cola with 1 895 entries on the marathon

and 253 entries on the fun run. Profits were R4 400.00. The Committee decided that a

function for the organisers will be held payable out of the profits. The cost will be based on

10% of the profits with a maximum of R250.00.

Tours organised for this year – Rustenburg on 27 October 1984 organised by Theo Viljoen

and Nelspruit on 14 September 1984 organised by Louis Harmse.

COMRADES 1984

Training group runs for the upcoming Comrades marathon were very popular. Five group

runs were organised with distances between 30 – 60 km.

144 Athletes took part in the comrades marathon. (120 Finishers).

Deon Holtzhausen finished in 6th place with Chris de Waal, Pieter van Rooy, Hannes Marais,

Kosie van Baalen, Charles Panaino, Kobus Nortje and Ronnie Hamilton earning their first

silver medal.

74

75

76

TWO OCEANS 1984

TRIATHLON

The Iron Man Competition was held for the first time.

CROSS COUNTRY

This year it was suggested that encouragement prizes should be given to top cross country

athletes. The year’s league took place on 26 May 1984 and was sponsored by Toyota.

Team Managers were chosen to send two senior and one veteran team to partake in the

Johannesburg to Vereeniging relay.

The boys U/19 were once again the winners at the Transvaal League. Gert Buter was

elected as team manager for the Transvaal Junior Team to take part at the S.A.

Championships. 14 Athletes achieved Transvaal Colours.

77





Chairman - Mr Gert Buter

Vice Chairman - Mr Chris de Waal




Ass. Cross Country - Mr Johan Swarts

Marathon Captain - Mr Louis Harmse

Ass. Marathon - Mr Ampie Hattingh

Track and Field Captain - Mr Theuns Victor

Sub-Junior Captain -

Ass. Sub-Juniors - Mrs Isabella Keyter

News Letter - Mr WP van Niekerk

Additional Members - Mr Theo du Toit

Mr Theo Viljoen

Mr Kobus Nortje

Mr Piet Engelbrecht

Mr Arthur Doyle

Mr Brian Lotter

President - Mr Louis van Wijck

Vice President - Mr Jan Naude

GENERAL

Honorary Colours were given to the following members:

Johan Swarts Provincial Achievements

Johannes Mazibuko S.A. Championships – Marathon in 2hrs22:17

Ben Madumise Colgate 16km in 53:14 and Transvaal 16km Championship in

53:32

Bruce Mahood Green Number for Comrades and Club Member for 10 years

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Joe Schoeman Transvaal and S.A. 10km Championships

Jan Naude Transvaal, Veteran and S.A. 10km Championships

Deon Holtzhausen 6th place at the Comrades and 4th place at the Athens

Marathon

Louis Harmse 2nd place at the Atvos 100km and 9th place at the Athens

Marathon

Dana Coetzee 4th place at the Atvos 100km and Athens Marathon

Ampie Hattingh Sanyo 100 miler and silver medal at the comrades

Ronnie Hamilton 3rd place at the Sanyo 100 Miler

Theo du Toit 17th place at the Sanyo 100 Miler

Graham Smith 2nd place at the Sanyo 100 Miler

Kobus Nortje 5th place at the Sanyo 100 Miler

Manie Saayman 1st and 2nd place at the Washie 100 Miler

Bobby Snelling 3rd place at the Battlefield Ultra and 4th place at the Kalahari

Marathon

Milo Venter 1st place at the Battlefield Ultra

P Henderson 1st place at the Golden West and the Jackie Gibson

Nico Venter 24th at the Astas 100 Miler

Jan Fitchat 22nd at the Astas 100 Miler

Martin Fitchat 18th at the Astas 100 Miler

Brian Lotter Veteran Silver Medal at the Comrades Marathon

Chris de Waal Veteran Silver Medal at the Comrades Marathon

Roy v Helsdingen Veteran Silver Medal at the Comrades Marathon

Honorary Colour for Cross Country was awarded to Pieter Westley for winning the

Transvaal and S.A. Championships

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Merit Awards for Cross Country was given to:

J Swarts Elias Stemmer Joe Schoeman Jan Naude Bobby Snelling Eugene Botha L Fourie M Mollers Ronel Luyt Juliet Prowse M du Plessis E Serfontein J Erasmus

Honorary Colours for Track and Field were given to Juliet Prowse for silver medal

in the 800 m at the S.A. Championships and Deon Labuschagne for S.A. Title in 100m

Boys U/17.


Eugene Botha Represented Transvaal at the S.A. Championships

S Bezuidenhout Represented Transvaal at the S.A. Championships

Pieter Westley Represented Transvaal at the S.A. Championships

R du Preez Represented Transvaal at the S.A. Championships

S Glauss Represented Transvaal at the S.A. Championships

R Minaar Represented Transvaal at the S.A. Championships

E Steyn S.A. Sub-Junior 1st place

P Prinsloo S.A. Sub-Junior 2nd place

Clubman of the year was Mr Manie Saayman.

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New club members for this year – Annatjie Kruger, Eddie Smook, Tony Proudfoot, Jimmy

Ramsden, Pierre Pretorius, Charles Naude, Danie van Niekerk, Arrie vd Net, Gerry Barnby

and Leon Geldenhuys.

One of the clubs athletes, Frans Naude, Warrant Officer in the S.A. Police Service in

Vanderbijlpark was accidently shot.

Two trophies were sponsored to the club for Sport Man & Women of the Month. They were

named The Boet Brits Trophy for the ladies and the Civic Pharmacy Trophy for the men.

Club Members for the year reached 550.

ROAD RUNNING

Approximately 800 athletes took part in the All in One Half Marathon and more than 200

athletes in the fun run. Annatjie Kruger, Marietjie Ceronio, Pam Henderson and Annemarie

Leonard won the Ladies Team Price with Hannes Malan, Piet Engelbrecht, L du Toit and

Bruce Mahood the Veteran Men’s Team Price. Louis Harmse was the organiser of the Half

Marathon.

Louis Harmse won the 100km track race in a new S.A. Record time of 6hr58:37. Jonathan

Such finished in 3rd place.

Blackie Swart achieved 7th place out of approximately 6 000 athletes at the Nashua

Marathon in a time of 2hrs21:50.

Vaal Athletic Club won the team price at the Frasers Ultra Marathon. The team was made

up of Louis Harmse, Manie Saayman, Jonathan Such and Bobby Snelling.

The Committee approved an amount of R2 500 for an encouragement price for road running.

This will be for races between 10km and 100 mile. This amount will be divided in the

following categories:

Athletes in the Transvaal team going to the S.A. Championships for 21.1 and 42.2 km races

will earn R50.00. For a new record in a race a R100.00 will be earned and for a 1st place in

a race an amount of R75.00 will be earned.

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Marathon Categories will be as follows:

Time Seniors Veterans Ladies

3hr30 R25.00

3hr15 R25.00 R35.00

3hr00 R25.00 R25.00 R50.00

2hr50 R75.00

2hr45 R25.00 R35.00 R100.00

2hr35 R25.00 R50.00

2hr30 R35.00 R100.00

2hr25 R50.00

2hr20 R100.00

A R100.00 reward will be given to any senior athlete who achieves a win in one of the

following marathons – Korkie, Two Oceans, J.S.E. and Bergville Marathons.

For a win at the Comrades Marathon the categories will be as follows:

Time Seniors Veterans Ladies

8hr30 R50.00

8hr00 R100.00

8hr30 R150.00

7hr00 R20.00

6hr45 R20.00 R35.00

6hr30 R30.00 R60.00

6hr15 R50.00 R100.00

6hr00 R150.00

Gold R20.00

1st place R250.00

An amount will also be awarded if an athlete achieves a silver medal or run a sub 7 hrs

Comrades for the first time. Amounts will also be set aside for achievements in the 100km

track race and the 100 milers.

The 12th Vaal Marathon is once again sponsored by Coca-Cola. Our marathon received the

famous award for the best organised marathon for 1984 which was organised by Arthur

Doyle. Mr Mike Hay was the Referee at the marathon. Altogether 2 350 athletes finished

the marathon. Jan Naude won the 12th Vaal Marathon in the veteran category.

During March 1984 the Inter-District Time Trial Competition was held at Bedworthpark which

included Sasolburg, Vanderbijlpark-West, Vanderbijlpark-East and Vereeniging. A total of

77 athletes took part in this competition with Sasolburg being the winners. Another

competition took place on 22 May 1984 with a total of 107 athletes, with the winners being

Vanderbijlpark-West.

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CROSS COUNTRY

As usual the Vaal Athletic Club was a factor to keep in mind at the cross country leagues.

After the 5th even the club and Wits was at the top of the points-ladder. The ladies and boys

U/19 were 2nd with the veterans in the 5th position.

TRI ATHLON

Two of the clubs athletes enter the Iron Man Triathlon. They are Louis le Roux and Flip

Venter. They took part in 30km rowing, 90km cycling and 42km running. The finish time is

13hrs.

COMRADES 1985

203 Vaal Athletic Club Members entered for the Comrades Marathon. 191 Athletes started

the race and 7 athletes did not finish. Mr Gerhard Ferreira was the first blind Vaal Athlete to

finish the Comrades Marathon. 14 Silver medals were achieved.

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TWO OCEANS 1985

A successful bus tour to the Two Oceans was organised.

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TRACK AND FIELD

The Vaal Championships was held on 19 January 1985 at the D.P de Villiers Stadium.

Helga can Wermeskerken ran the 800m in an amazing time of 2minutes 8 seconds and

Marilise Furstenburg the 100m in 11.78 seconds for girls U/19. Ronel du Preez of Vaal

Athletic Club was chosen to run for Transvaal in the relay team.

Other athletes that took part at the Championship was Chris de Beer, Charmaine Fick,

Maryna van Niekerk, Hennie Kotze, Hannelie Kotze, Hannes Pienaar, Greg Collin, Susan

Lion-Cachet and Edwin Ludick.

Highlights for this year’s leagues were as follows:

Jacques Terblanche Long Jump – 6.91m

Nico Ras 800m – 1m57.8s

1500m – 3m54.8s

3000m – 8m29.1s

Joe Schoeman 800m – 1m55.2s

Pieter Westley 1500m – 3m58.6s

3000m - 8m53.0s

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Eugene Botha 800m – 1m56.5s

3000m – 8m55.8s

Elizmarie Steyn 80m G/11 – 10.7s

Suzette Nel High Jump G/15 – 1.70m

An amount of R1 400 will be allocated for encouragement prizes for track and field. The

categories will be as follows:

For the best three achievements at the league:

Males Females Juniors

R80.00 R50.00 R30.00

R50.00 R30.00 R20.00

R30.00 R10.00 R10.00

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The 13th Annual General Meeting was held 19 September 1985. The elected Committee

Members for this year will be:

Chairman - Mr Chris de Waal

Vice Chairman - Mr Arthur Doyle

Secretary - Mrs Ans Schoeman



Marathon Captain - Mr Theo Viljoen

Track & Field Captain - Mr Theuns Victor

Newsletter - Mr Dana Coetzee

Additional Members - Mr Ampie Hattingh

Mr Manie Saayman

Mr Wynand Mienie

Mr Jan Leonard

Mr Deon Holtzhausen

President Mr Jan Naude

Vice Presidents Mr Mike vd Merwe

Mr Boet Brits

Mr Louis van Wijck

Mr Ainsley D Stoppelaar

Mr WP van Niekerk

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It was however after this election that the Vaal Athletics Club split apart. This was due to the

establishment of another club which was called The Spectrum Athletics Club with the

Chairman being Mr Manie Saayman. The majority of the Committee went over to the new

club, therefore a new Committee was elected with the following members:




Treasurer _ Mr Robin Swatton



Track & Field Captain - Mr Deon Holtzhausen

Newsletter - Mr Dana Coetzee

Additional Members - Mr Ampie Hattingh

Mr Jonathan Such

Mr Wynand Mienie

President - Mr Jan Naude

Vice President - Mr Mike van der Merwe

Mr Boet Brits

Mr Louis van Wijck

Mr Ansley D Stoppelaar

During January 1986 the following additional member were appointed due to the some

resignations from the Committee:

Junior Track & Field Captain Mr Lukas Kotze

Additional Members Mr Piet Engelbrecht

Mr Hannes Malan

Mr Johnny Simpson

Mr Trevor Nienaber

Mrs Lorraine Krugel

Mr Pierre Pretorius

Mr Tony Proudfoot replaced Mr Dana Coetzee as Editor of the newsletter.

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GENERAL

Between October 1985 until February 1986, a total of 88 new members joined the club.

Some of these new members are Tracy Powell, Pieter du Plessis, Amos Thokoane, Dick

Otto, Otto Hagemann, Dawie Jacobs, Uwe Mollers, Shaun Powell, Joe Squirra, Solly de

Villiers, Pieter Zeelie, Johnny Terblanche, Tsoledo Sechomane, Jan Tatai, Tony Sanders,

Louis Claassen and Herman Schumacher.

On 28 June 1985, Deon Holtzhausen got married to Mara Boshoff also an athlete of Vaal

Athletic Club. This photo was taken in 1992 after Deon and Mara relocated to Middelburg

and joined the Midack Athletics Club.

ROAD RUNNING

The All-In-One road race was still hosted by Vaal on 13 November 1985 with a record

entries.

The Pick and Pay 15km race was organised by Trevor Nienaber with double the entries from

the previous year.

During the S.A. 10km Men’s Championship held on 28 September 1985 at Pretoria our

athletes achieved the following out a field of 195 athletes:

Winning Time - 29:22

15th position - Ben Madumise – 30:35

28th position - Blackie Swarts – 30:57

66th position - Pieter Westley – 31:52

67th position - Nico Ras – 31:52

74th position - Mark Madumise 32:03

The ladies 10km S.A. Championships took place on 5 October 1985 in Potchefstroom with

the following achievements out a field of 103 athletes:

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Winning Time - 35:10

22nd position - Marietjie Ceronio – 38:16

48th position - Lorraine Krugel – 39:49

50th position - Annatjie Kruger – 39:54

77th position - Mara Boshoff – 41:42

The famous “Coke and Bun Run” was lodged and weekend group runs took place from

Jones Garage in Vanderbijlpark.

Ronnie Hamilton finished in 5th position at the 200km race which took place in East London.

Annatjie Kruger became a very famous athlete from the Vaal Athletic Club with her

achievements at races.

Jonathan Such finished in 7th position at the Vital Health Foods 100 Miler in a time of

15hrs53.

Michelle du Plessis won the Harrismith Mountain Race.

A team of Vaal Athletes took part in the Mainstay Prestige Relay on 5 July 1985 in Port

Elizabeth. A well-earned 10th position was achieved out of 52 teams taking part in this relay.

Both the Vaal Men’s and Ladies Teams won the Colgate 15km race in Boksburg. These

athletes were – Mark Madumise, Nico Ras, Deon Holtshauzen, Ben Madumise, Elias

Stemmer, Phillip Mtetwa, I Mokoena, Annetjie Kruger and Mara Boshoff.

At the Golden Reef 15km race which took place on 20 October 1985 the Vaal Men’s Teams

also won the team price with the following athletes – Blackie Swarts, Deon Holtshauzen, Ben

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Madumise and J Lesupi. Another two team prices were won at the All-In-One Night Race

and the Milo Touch One.

The 13th Coca-Cola Vaal Marathon was held on 9 March 1986 with Arthur Doyle as the

organiser. The highlight of this race was the winning of Annatjie Kruger at the age of 43 in a

time of 2hr59:19. The Vaal Athletic Club’s first ladies sub 3hr marathon.

New criteria for encouragement awards are set by the Committee. These criteria will be for

senior men, veteran men, master men and ladies in all races of the following distances – 10,

15, 21, 32, 42, 56, 90 and 160 km. Provision will also be made for a number of Ultra

Marathons and a sub 3hr marathon tie.

On 25 February 1986, Bob de la Motte visited the Vosloo Park Time Trial. This time trial

was won by both Mark and Ben Madumise in a time of 24:51 which equalled the time set by

Nico Ras. Both Abrie de Swardt and Alan Robb were guests at two separate group runs.

COMRADES 1986.

Five group runs for training for the Comrades Marathon was hosted by Arthur Doyle, Theo

Viljoen, Dana Coetzee, Piet Engelbrecht and Jonathan Such.

Deon Holtzhauzen received a gold medal at the Comrades Marathon. He finished in 5th

position in a time of 5hrs40. Riaan van Zyl (a grade 10 student) and a novice runner

received a silver medal for his first Comrades Marathon.

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TWO OCEANS 1986.

A bus tour to the Two Ocean Marathon is organised by Theo Viljoen. Johannes Mazibuko

finished in 6th position in a time of 3hrs17 as a novice. A total of 44 Vaal Athletes took part in

this marathon with 4 athletes earning silver medals

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TRACK AND FIELD

The annual Vaal Championships took place on 18 January 1986. Entrees for this event

reached 898 juniors, 184 U/19 and 318 senior athletes, including 6 springbok athletes.

Highlights of this event included the javelin throw of Chris de Beer reaching a distance of

82.74m and Pieter Westley setting up a new Transvaal record in the 2 000m in a time of

24.03s. Nine first places were achieved by the Vaal athletes which included a time of

10:037s in the 3000m for veterans by Bobby Snelling.

At a RAU League, Nico Ras won the 3000m in a time of 8m36.6s.

Anton van Dam, currently a star in Vaal Triangle Rugby won a gold medal in the 200m with a

time of 22:74.

Pieter Westley finished in 2nd place in the 3000m at an event in Mbatho, only 1.5 seconds

after Mathews Temane. During the Transvaal Championships, Pieter Westley ran the

3000m in a new Transvaal record time of 8m20.4s.

Four Vaal Athletes achieved to ran the 1500m in under 4 minutes. They are Pieter Westley

(3m56.2s), Eugene Botha (3m57.2s), Nico Ras (3m57.7s) and Joe Schoeman (3m59.0s).

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CROSS COUNTRY

With compliments to Samancor, transport by bus for all athletes are sponsored to the

leagues. This year a new 4km distance was introduced which was named the “Mob Race”.

21 Vaal Athletes are chosen to represent the club at the Transvaal League. They were:

Chris Huxham David Huxham Sadie Mokoena

Mara Boshoff Mark Madumise Deon Holtzhausen

Eugene Botha Jan Naude Marietjie Ceronio

Michelle du Plessis Nettie Viljoen Frikkie Fouche

Annatjie Kruger Joe Schoeman Hannes van Wyk

Elias Stemmer Nico Ras Pieter Westley

Juliet Prowse Bobby Snelling Chris Potgieter

The Transvaal Championships was hosted on 14 August 1986 at Dick Fourie Stadium.

Famous athletes who took part were Sonja Laxton and Mark Plaatjies.

Mark Madumise earned Junior Springbok Colours for cross country and Pieter Westley won

the Transvaal U/19 Title.

Both Gert Buter and Leon Geldenhuys qualified as Cross Country Officials.

The end of a very difficult year in the history of the Club.

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Track and Field Captain - Mr Deon Holtzhausen

Jnr Track & Field Captain - Mr Lukas Kotze

Newsletter - Mr Tony Proudfoot

Additional Members - Mr Piet Engelbrecht

Mr Trevor Nienaber

Mr Jonathan Such

Mr Pierre Pretorius

Mr Hennie Grimsel

Mr Piet Cilliers

President - Mr Jan Naude

Vice President - Mr John Nott

Mr JB van Zyl

Mr Louis van Wijck

During April 1987, Lorinda Nel joined the Committee as the new Track and Field Captain.

GENERAL

The following athletes received Honorary Awards for the past year:

Mark Madumise Pieter Westley Elias Stemmer

Leon Kahn Jacques JV Vuuren Deon Holtzhausen

S Nel Adri Bezuidenhout Johan Theron

Jacques Terblanche Therina v Zyl Nico Ras

David Huxham Chris Huxham Frikkie Fouche

Sadie Mokoena Mara Holtzhausen Michelle du Plessis

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Hannes v Wyk Joe Schoeman Chris Potgieter

Eugene Botha Nettie Viljoen Annatjie Kruger

Bobby Snelling Jan Naude Marietjie Ceronio

Johannes Mazibuko Riaan v Zyl Ronnie Hamilton

Sasha Beare Juanita Roux Elizmarie Steyn

Christelle Steyn Ingrid Robins Tracy Powell

Pieter v Vuuren Johan Raath Stefan Deetlefs

Hennie v Zyl Herman Mouton Marius Burger

Pieter Pretorius Robert Roodt Albert v Rensburg

The club purchased a tent which can be used for all sport events.

Another club day has been organised by Arthur Doyle for 11 October 1986 at Kareekloof.

Approximately 100 members attended this function.

New members who joined the club during the year – Boet van Wyk, Yvonne Goosen, Gerry

Groll, Lorinda Nel, Pierre Meyer, David Anley and Christo Brink.

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ROAD RUNNING

The Vaal Athletic Club Night Race is sponsored by Schwims Tyres. This race is organised

by John Silverthorne, Charles Naude, Pierre Pretorius, Roy Atkins and Wessel Hoffman.

911 Athletes entered the half marathon and 301 entered for the fun run.

Group runs were organised from Arthur Doyle, Pierre Pretorius, Theo Viljoen, Piet Cilliers

and Charles Naude’s houses.

A Inter-District time trial was organised in Falcon Ridge and was very well supported.

A 1 hour track race was organised for 1st April 1987.

Arthur Doyle from our club is also in charge of the Transvaal 10km Championships which will

be held on 30 August 1987 at Dick Fourie Stadium. MMI Vereeniging Motors is the sponsor

for this event.

The Pick and Pay 15km race will take place on 19 Julie 1987 with Trevor Nienaber as

organiser.

Deon Holtzhausen won the Frazers 64km race in a record time of 3hrs58.

Both Deon and Mara Holtzhausen won the Long Tom Marathon in record times.

Marietjie Ceronio has been chosen as Meyerton’s Sport Women of the Year.

Six athletes (Deon Holtzhausen, Kallie Joubert, Hennie v Rensburg, Nico Ras, Eugene

Botha and Pieter Westley) took part in the Sasolburg to Secunda Replay and was won by

Vaal Athletic Club in a new record time of 8hrs09. The record has been bettered with 1hr14.

Jonathan Such finished his 100th marathon during this year in club colours.

The S.A. 15km Championships took place on 22 November 1986 at Secunda. The following

athletes represented the club for Transvaal – Mara Holtzhausen, Annatjie Kruger, Mark

Madumise, Phillip Maphumulo, Elias Stemmer, Eugene Botha and Pieter Westley.

The 14th Vaal Marathon took place on 8 March 1987 and is organised by Arthur Doyle. The

marathon is sponsored by S.A. Breweries and 2 300 athletes entered on the day.

Vaal Athletic Club won the team price with the following athletes:

2nd place Johannes Mazibuko – 2hrs30:50

3rd place Nico Ras – 2hrs31:03

5th place Joe Schoeman – 2hrs32:44

6th place Daniel Rapuleng – 2hrs32:48

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The club once again received the Ian Schapkaitz Trophy for best organised race in

Transvaal.

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DUINE MARATHON

A few athletes of the club took part in their first Duine Marathon over a distance of 52km

from Swakopmund to Walvisbaai. Deon Holtzhausen won in a record time and Nettie Viljoen

won the ladies category. The results of these athletes are:

1st place Deon Holtzhausen - 3hrs12:02

9th place Jan Greyling – 3hrs31:05

15th place Nico Ras – 3hrs 43:16

20th place Johnny Terblanche – 3hrs48:01

21st place Charles Naude – 3hrs49:24

32nd place Hennie Grimsel – 3hrs 58:52

41st place Pierre Pretorius – 4hrs11:00

54th place Theo Viljoen – 4hrs27:41

61st place Cobus Smith – 4hrs39:14

72nd place Harold v Niekerk – 4hrs54:00

90th place Gert Buter – 4hrs20:00

1st place Nettie Viljoen – 4hrs25:40

2nd place Mara Holtzhausen – 4hrs39:14

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TRACK AND FIELD

Gert Buter is in charge of the Vaal Championships. Sasha Beare and Tracy Powell both

earned Transvaal Sub-Junior Colours.

14 Vaal Athletes are chosen to represent Transvaal at the S.A. Championships. Kathy

Heldsdingen received a gold medal for javelin with a distance of 46.64m for girls U/19.

Jakes v Vuuren sets a new record time of 46m17s in the 10km walk.

Bill Powell and Anton Nel are sent to a Track and Field Training Course to ensure that our

athletes receive the best training.

DUATHLON AND TRIATHLON

The following athletes enter in 1987 for the Iron Man Competition to be held on 21 February

1987:

Tuli Badenhorst Dawie Jacobs Johan de Waal

Tony Proudfoot Roy Hughes

COMRADES 1987

Five athletes finished their 10th Comrades Marathon in club colours. They are Ray Powell,

Jonathan Such, Gerry Groll, Charles Panaino and Len Smith. Deon Holtzhasen achieved

his fourth gold medal for finishing in 9th position in a time of 5hrs53:21. Jan Greyling and

Johnny Terblanche received silver medals for their first comrades marathon. 103 Vaal

Athletes finished the Comrades Marathon with six athletes earning silver medals.

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TWO OCEANS 1987

Nettie Viljoen is organising the bus tour to the Two Oceans Marathon. 46 Athletes took part

in the Two Oceans Marathon and 6 athletes earned silver medals, namely – Nico Ras

(3hrs35:30), Johan Oosthuizen (3hrs57:30), Hennie Grimsel (3hrs35:58), Johan de Waal

(3hrs58:50), Chris Kotze (3hrs56:03) and Jonathan Such (3hrs59:26).

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CROSS COUNTRY

This year a new category, sub-veterans is introduced. After Vaal’s great hosting of the first

league we are also hosting the Transvaal Cross Country Championships.

Samancor once again provided their bus for transport of athletes to the different leagues.

20 Vaal Athletes are chosen to represent Transvaal at the S.A. Championships.

Boet van Wyk Piet Engelbrecht Jan Greyling

Jan Naude Bobby Snelling Elias Stemmer

Annatjie Kruger Nettie Viljoen Mark Madumise

Mara Holtzhausen Daniel Rapuleng Deon Holtzhausen

Michelle du Plessis Ettienne vd Merwe Lorraine Krugel

Joe Schoeman Phillip Maphumulo Kobus vd Merwe

Carel Esterhuizen

The cross country season is the most successful one in the club’s history. The masters and

the boys U/19 won their different leagues. The results were:

Masters 1st position

Boys U/19 1st position

Ladies 2nd position

Senior Men 3rd position

Veterans 4th position

Vaal Athletic Club and Johannesburg Harriers organised the 42nd Relay between

Johannesburg and Vereeniging. Vaal ended in all categories under the first three teams.

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Documents

PREFACE - Vaal Athletic Club...Additional Members - Mr Sarel Myburgh Mr Johan Roux Mrs A Esterhuizen Mr Joshua Loock Mr W van der Merwe Club Fees: License Fee - R1.00 for seniors R0.60