National athletes battle it out at the Puma School of Speed event

RUIMSIG – The Puma School of Speed held its third South African meeting at Ruimsig Athletics Stadium where 1 000 athletes from Gauteng, the North West and KwaZulu-Natal met to compete against each other.

The athletics development programme was launched last year with the aim to find the best U19 runners who could develop into tomorrow’s superstar athletes. Athletes are able to compete under the banner of their school or individually.

Principal of the school, Olympic gold medalist and the fastest man on the planet Usain Bolt, appointed reigning South African 100m champion Henricho Bruintjies as the vice principal who would oversee the programme in South Africa.

Five athletes walked away from the meeting with a year-long Puma-sponsored contract and the runner-ups walked away with a Puma gear hamper.

Manus Hendriks of the school congratulated the winning athletes. “At the Ruimsig event we had some outstanding results and this includes the sprint star from Prestige College Hammanskraal, Retshiditswe Mlenga, who won the 100m for the boys U18. He will definitely be a crowd favourite at the upcoming national title in April when the Athletics South Africa Championships take place in Cape Town,” Hendriks said.

He explained that the next Puma School of Speed series would take place in Durban on 11 February where more athletes would be given an opportunity to prove if they have speed under their feet.

If you were at the event or were one of the athletes, share your best photos with us on our timelime Roodepoort Northsider