Latest News Archive

Please select Category, Year, and then Month to display items
Previous Archive
18 May 2022 | Story Lunga Luthuli
East College - Eco Vehicles Team
Overall winners of the 2022 Eco-vehicle race, East College, hard at work to get their car ready for the race held at the Odeion parking lot on the Bloemfontein Campus.

For the first time, the University of the Free State’s 2022 Eco-vehicle race – held on the Bloemfontein Campus on 14 May 2022 – had students from all three campuses participating in the programme and race; a cup was awarded to the college with the best support.

Although the annual event did take place in 2021, only team members were allowed access to campus due to the COVID-19 pandemic and lockdown regulations, and therefore the race was streamed live. 

Karen Scheepers, Assistant Director: Student Life, said: “To have the students back on campus supporting their teams was incredible; this event will become bigger and better every year.”

With the Eco-vehicle race project, the UFS aims to use an innovative skills development approach that will enable students to develop basic knowledge and skills on sustainable energy.

This year, 130 undergraduate students enrolled for this co-curricular skills programme that runs for nine months and culminates in the Eco-vehicle race. A total of eight teams competed in the energy efficiency race, speed race, obstacle course race, and the main event – the endurance race. For the first time in the main event, the teams raced against each other for 18 laps. 

The winners of this year’s event were Central College (Akasia, Karee, Kagiso, Soetdoring, and Wag-’n-Bietjie residences) for Spirit Cup, South Campus took home the Pit Stop, North College won the Smart Lap, and South College won the Endurance Race. The overall winners of the Eco-vehicle race were East College (Legatum residence). 

The driver for East College, Lebakeng Motlotlo, said: “Even though I have always been part of the KovsieACT Committee in my residence, seeing that the focus this year was more on energy saving and saving resources, it pushed me to participate.”

Motlotlo believes the practice he and his team went through worked for them, as they were able to practise “how to turn, slow down around corners, and save energy”. 

“Our team was very dedicated and knew how to improvise when faced with challenges. As a small residence and most of us living off campus, the race taught us the importance of teamwork.” 

Motlotlo believes “initiatives such as the Eco-vehicle race are important, as we learn other skills outside of lectures, which we sometimes think are not important”.

Scheepers said the plan is to “grow the programme, motivate other universities to also invest in their students through this programme, and race to become a national and maybe an international event”.

“The programme adds value to the student experience to ensure that they do not only obtain a degree during their study period, but also undergo practical application of acquired knowledge and skills through real-life situations and meaningful learning encounters,” said Scheepers. 

News Archive

USSA cross country 2008
2008-10-16

The student cross country championships of 2008 took place on the 29 and 30 September 2008 at the University of Kwazulu Natal.

‘n Total of 109 athletes took part. The Kovsies men`s team was Boy Soke, Johan Cronje, Michael Tlhoro, Dirk Gouws, Ben Smit and Antonie Peens. The womens team was represented by Este de Jager, Abongile Lerotholi, Thandi Malindi, Rone Reynecke en Maryna Swanepoel.

The women’s team took the honours by winning the team competition in the 4km race. They finished as follows: De Jager 3rd, Lerotholi 5th, Malindi 6th, Reynecke 7th and Swanepoel 16th.

The men’s team also did well under circumstances – Our number 2 and 3 runners were injured and Antonie Peens, our number 5, was diagnosed with measles on the morning of the race. They finished 3rd in the men`s 4km race. However the men can kept their heads high. They finished as follow: Soke 2nd, Cronje 12th, Tlhoro 17th, Gouws 29th and Smit 39 th.

In the road relay race our womens team again did us proud by winning the race by a huge margin. Our team was Thandi Malindi, Abongile Lerotholi and Este de Jager.

The men`s team perform well under difficult circumstances by finishing 4th.  The team was Dirk Gouws, Johan Cronje, Michael Tlhoro en Boy Soke.

Este de Jager

We use cookies to make interactions with our websites and services easy and meaningful. To better understand how they are used, read more about the UFS cookie policy. By continuing to use this site you are giving us your consent to do this.

Accept