The 2019 GBS Mutual Bank Mountain Drive Half Marathon has officially been announced, once again organised by the Rotary Club of Grahamstown Sunset, with the aid of the Albany Saints and Sinner Multisport Club and sponsored by GBS Mutual Bank. For the second year in a row, the GBS Mountain Drive 21km challenges residents and visitors to conquer the mountain, this time on Saturday 24 August, 2019.
All roads lead to Kingswood College between 6 and 10 April, as they played host to their First Team Jubilee Rugby Festival. Schools from all over the country, as well as a team from Zimbabwe and one from the United Kingdom, descended on Makhanda (Grahamstown) to show off their rugby skills.
Taryn-Maie Wille, an old-Kingswoodian currently studying in Stellenbosch University, will once again showcase her talent on the world stage in the Elite Cross-Triathlon World Championships in Spain at the end of April. While the ITU Championships will take place in Pontevreda, Spain, from 26 April to 4 May, Wille’s event, the Elite Cross-Triathlon, will take place on Tuesday 30 April.
Round 19 of the Guinness Pro14 kicked off in the Nelson Mandela University Madibaz’s Stadium on Sunday 7 April, when the Isuzu Southern Kings hosted the Dragons from Wales in Port Elizabeth. Despite the massive traffic delays caused by the Ironman competition happening around the stadium at the same time, the match kicked off in perfect conditions.
After a tough fight against fierce opposition, Makhanda’s (Grahamstown’s) local boxing champion came out of his South African Welterweight Championship defence on Sunday 31 March as the deserved champion. Mziwoxolo Ndwayana successfully defended his SA Welterweight Championship against Odwa Gaxa at a packed Uitenhage Indoor Sports Centre, with a knock out in the seventh round.
The early stages of the schoolboy rugby season continued at the Standard Bank Grey High School Rugby Festival on Thursday 21 March and Saturday 23 March, with schools from across the country travelling to Port Elizabeth to take part. From Makhanda; Graeme College, Kingswood College and St Andrew’s College would all look to make their mark in the prestigious festival of schoolboy rugby.
Makhanda (Grahamstown) is situated in an area surrounded by natural beauty, and while many residents and nature lovers want to experience the wonders of the Eastern Cape, they are not always aware of what is most affordable or on offer. The Eastern Cape Parks and Tourism Agency (ECPTA), however, is a great place to look for information on Nature and Game Reserves around Makhanda and throughout the province.
The 2019 Mayoral Cup came to an end on Saturday 9 March, with both the Makana and Ndlambe competitions seeing exciting finals to their season-opening competition. The Brumbies First Team took on Old Collegians in the Makana final at the Oval, while the Trying Stars faced off against Klipfontein.
Nobody will complain about how the 115th edition of the annual Kenrich Pineapple Cricket Tournament came to a close, with rain on the final two days of the tournament to bring much needed relief to the drought-ridden area. Both the A and B sections of the tournament had joint winners decided by the net run rate system, with only the C section having an out-and-out winner at the end of the week.
The Gift of the Givers were given a helping hand themselves on Tuesday 12 March, when Isuzu Motors South Africa donated two water trucks to the organisation for their use in managing the water shortage in Makhanda (Grahamstown).
Stephen Kisbey-Green Photography 