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UFS are new student cross-country champions

26 September 2019 | Story Ruan Bruwer | Photo Supplied

Kovsies Women Cross-Country Team Marné Mentz, Vicky Oelofse, and Channah du Plessis — Marné Mentz, Ts’epang Sello, and Tyler Beling played a huge role in Kovsies' cross-country champions win.

After coming within a whisker of claiming the title in 2018, the University of the Free State’s (UFS) runners ensured that the University Sports South Africa (USSA) cross-country trophy comes to Bloemfontein in 2019.

Kovsies are the new national student cross-country champions after they (men and women combined) won the USSA Championships in Nelspruit on Saturday, 21 September. Kovsies and the University of Johannesburg (UJ) both finished with three gold medals at the same event in 2018. UJ finished with nine overall medals compared to the eight (three gold, two silver, and three silver) of the UFS, who had to settle for second place. In 2017, the UFS finished third.

The Kovsie women’s team played a huge role in carrying the team to the top of the medal table, winning four golds. They won the 4 km and 10 km women’s team competitions as well as the road relay. The top three places by the runners of a university determined the team winner.

Marné Mentz’s gold medal in the four-kilometre race at the
USSA Cross Country Championships helped the Kovsies
win the overall title.

Marné Mentz (first), Vicky Oelofse (fifth), and Channah du Plessis (sixth) dominated the four-kilometre race. In the 10 km, Ts’epang Sello (third), Tyler Beling (sixth), and Lizandré Mulder (seventh) did enough to ensure another gold for the Free State students. Mentz, Sello, and Beling jointly took first place in the road relay.

In the 10-km race for men, Kovsies came fifth, with Victor Makhabesela the best performer (finishing ninth). Pakiso Mthembu, one of the contenders for the medal who won the silver medal at the National Cross Country Championships two weeks before, had to withdraw after 7 km in the race due to an injury.

News Archive

Kovsie marketer, Cindy Hack, leads Proteas in World Cup

2014-12-15

Cindy Hack
Photo: Stefan Lotter

Cindy Hack is not only a prominent schools marketer for the University of the Free State (UFS) in Durban, she also captains the national Protea Women’s Indoor Hockey team.

After playing field hockey for the Proteas for five years, she ended her field hockey career in 2012, just before the London Olympics.

Married and with a child to take care of, Hack says the indoor version of the game allows for more flexibility. “When playing outdoor hockey for the Proteas, you’ll be away on training camps in cities like Amsterdam, away from home for six weeks at a time,” Hack says. “With indoor hockey, we are definitely more flexible and tournaments and training camps do not take up as much time.”

She also points out the pace of this version of the game. “It used to be six players a side, but that number has recently been reduced to five players a side, making the game even faster and more intense.”

On 1 December 2014 Hack and her team travelled to Canada for a preparation tournament for next year’s World Cup. The Indoor Hockey World Cup will be hosted in Germany in February 2015.

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