Constantia Primary brings back athletic event after 11 years

It’s been 11 years since Constantia Kloof Primary School (CKPS) last held a biathlon for its pupils, but it certainly doesn’t need an introduction as 800 pupils were interested to take part in the CKPS Sportsmans Warehouse Biathlon event on Thursday 21 November.

It was in actual fact back in 2002 when the famous blade runner, Oscar Pistorius was still a pupil at the school that such an event was held.

The CKPS Sportsmans Warehouse Biathlon consists of swimming and running in which U/7 to U/14s participated and was held on the school grounds.

Participants first started in the swimming pool, which was referred to as a wet start, then had to run past the tennis courts (transition area) and eventually onto the field along a demarcated route until they reach the finish line.

Because of the age difference, the distances had to be tweaked as any biathlon is pretty tough to complete.

The Grade 1s and Grade 2s got it a bit easier than the seniors and as they had to swim 10m and run for 400m and 800m respectively. The distance then was increased in the pool for the Grade 3s who had to swim for 20m and also run 800m. It was made a bit tougher for the Grade 4s who had to swim a full length of the pool of 25m and had to run 500m and even tougher for the Grade 5s who had to swim double the length (50m) with 500m to run. Organisers stepped it up for the Grade 6s and 7s who had to swim 100m and 125m respectively with a 1km run.

Head of Department (HOD) of sport at CKPS, Tessa Shellard said that the aim of a biathlon “firstly is to give the children a challenge, secondly give them a sense of accomplishment together with a prize and thirdly give them an opportunity to take part in something a little different than the usual cricket, soccer, rugby and netball.

“Thanks to Sportsmans Warehouse – responsible for branding on the day – we were able to create a biathlon course that gives them the atmosphere of a proper biathlon, triathlon or duathlon.”

Results:

• Grade 1:

Boys and girls:

First: Richard Luke and Cabrien Bibb

Second: Hawken Hall and Indiana Louw

Third: Ethan Katemba and Keana Zahll

• Grade 2:

Boys and girls:

First: Lieran Woest and Mpho Siweya

Second: Joshua Barnard and Amy Higgs

Third: Diego Alves and Rebbecca Strydom

• Grade 3:

Boys and girls:

First: Nathan Bester and Shawna Evans

Second: Miguel Alberqueque and Kiara Govender

Third: Cameron Govender and Caitlin de Ponte

• Grade 4:

Boys and girls:

First: Layne Kirsten and Carla Small

Second: Thabo Moyo and Micaela Liebmann

Third: Connor Alderman and Chanel Simonsen

• Grade 5, 6 and 7:

Boys and girls:

First: Muaano Romano (Grade 7) and Amy Pace (Grade 5)

Second: Duncan Kurten (Grade 5) and Paige Moore (Grade 7)

Third: Ethan Crafford (Grade 6) and Mikaela de Ponte (Grade 5)