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26 April 2018 Photo Supplied
Strong athletics team for USSA
The 800m athlete Rynardt van Rensburg is one of several Kovsies who is expected to win a gold medal at the national student champs this weekend.
With three Olympians in their midst and a number of athletes who are serious contenders for a first place, the Kovsie athletics team looks set to make a statement at the 2018 national student champs.

The University Sport South Africa (USSA) event takes place from Friday 27 April to Sunday 29 April 2018 in Sasolburg.

Kovsies finished fifth at last year’s USSA with four gold, four silver and four bronze medals.

There were initial concerns the team might be weakened by the loss of five of their top athletes who are competing at the CAA Southern Region Youth and Junior Championships that is also taking place this weekend in Boksburg.  

Luckily for Tsebo Matsoso (200m), Pakiso Mthembu (5 000m), Tyler Beling (1 500 m) and Lara Orrock (3 000m steeplechase), their events on the USSA programme are only scheduled for Sunday which will allow them to participate in both meetings. Michaéla Wright (SA U20 long jump champion) won’t be able to compete in Sasolburg either. 

Beling and Orrock, along with Ts’epang Sello (800m and 1 500m), Kesa Molotsane (5 000m and 10 000m), Lynique Beneke (long jump), Carien Sander (400m), Hendrik Maartens (200m), Sefako Mokhosoa (triple jump), Mthembi Chauque (20km walk), Peter Makgato (long jump) and Rynardt van Rensburg (800m and 1 500m) are all realistic gold medal contestants.

Van Rensburg, Sello and Beneke have all been to the Olympic Games in 2016. Van Rensburg’s 1:46.15 last month in the 800m currently ranks 21st among the best times in 2018 on the global stage.

Beneke defended her national crown last month with a winning distance of 6.22m and Sello came very close to running her personal best in the 800m at the Commonwealth Games.

News Archive

Kovsie student aims for the record books
2011-10-11

 
Potential Guinness World Record-holder, Hermann van Heerden
Photo: Phelekwa Mpono

The Guinness World Record for the longest continuous wheelie in a wheelchair was achieved by Michael Miller of the United States, who covered a distance of 16,12 km on the rear wheels of his wheelchair on 8 August 2009.

On 11 October 2011, Hermann van Heerden, a second-year Kovsie student, will attempt to set a Guinness World Record for the longest wheelie in a wheelchair in a stationary position. The 22-year-old disabled student from the University of the Free State (UFS) will manoeuvre his wheelchair so that the front wheels lift off the ground.

Hermann, who is studying for a BEd degree, was born with spina bifida, a developmental congenital disorder caused by the incomplete closing of the embryonic neural tube. He has been in a wheelchair since he was a toddler.

Hermann’s Guinness World Record attempt forms part of the ten-year celebrations of the Unit for Students with Disabilities (USD) at the UFS. The unit was established in February 2001, with fifteen registered students, but currently supports 143 registered students. The USD focuses on promoting equity for students with disabilities, including access to courses, buildings, learning materials, residences, leisure and sports activities and the opportunity to succeed in such activities.

The unit supports students with specific learning difficulties (dyslexia, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder); mobility–impaired students (wheelchair users and amputees, as well as those suffering from cerebral palsy, muscle dystrophy, spina bifida and multiple sclerosis); visually-impaired students; hearing-impaired students, students suffering from “other” conditions (mental impairment ((schizophrenia)), epilepsy, panic disorder) and those with temporary impairments (broken hand).

Hermann said that he would like to use his record attempt as a means of raising money for the USD and welcomes sponsorships. “The USD has only been good to me ever since I registered at the UFS. Every time I had a question, they answered it. Every time I had a problem with a class, they resolved it. This year, the unit has its ten-year anniversary and I thought it was time for me to give back.”
 

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