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15 April 2023 | Story Gerda-Marié van Rooyen | Photo Two Oceans Marathon Twitter
Gerda Steyn winning the 2023 Two Oceans Marathon
Former UFS student, Gerda Steyn, made history this weekend – she is the first woman to win the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon four consecutive times.
Kovsie alumna Gerda Steyn provided much jubilation on Saturday 15 April 2023, as she became the first woman to win the Two Oceans Marathon four consecutive times. Steyn, who represented South Africa in the 2020 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan, in 2021, improved her personal best by finishing the race 39 seconds faster than her winning time in 2022.

Shortly after her fourth win in the 56 km race, Steyn told media that the desire to inspire girls kept her motivated during the race. “I thought of all the girls watching (the race) with their parents and seeing a woman who looked like everyone else winning this big race.” The former University of the Free State (UFS) professional athlete managed an average pace of 3:45 minutes per kilometre. Steyn proved that hard work pays off, as she finished 14th at the Two Oceans Ultra Marathon in 2016. Her first-ever first place at this race was in 2018, and again in 2019 and 2022 – the marathon was cancelled in 2020 and 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Proving that she not only has golden feet but a heart of gold too, she pledged to donate some of her bonus money towards the development of athletes living in Muizenberg shortly after she won the Two Oceans in record time in 2022. A true example of perseverance and hard work, she also won the Comrades Marathon in 2019, and finished seventh in the London Marathon in 2020. 

Prof Francis Petersen, Rector and Vice-Chancellor of the UFS, says that Gerda is an embodiment of focus and determination. “I am so proud of her. The UFS is truly the home of champions, as can be seen by the achievements of Olympic track athletes Wayde van Niekerk, Louzanne Coetzee, and champions in many other sporting codes.”

Saturday’s Two Oceans Marathon saw Ethiopian-born Amelework Fikadu Bosho finish second in the women’s race – crossing the finish line 12 minutes after Steyn – with Carla Molinaro from Britain in the third position. Approximately 10 000 athletes entered the race, starting at the Newlands Stadium and ending on the University of Cape Town's campus.

News Archive

Students’ commitment the focus of architectural exhibition at Free State Arts Festival
2016-07-07

Description: Architectural exhibition Tags: Architectural exhibition

The traveling exhibition of first-year architecture
students of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan
University consists of 400 exhibition pieces.
Photo: Supplied

A unique travelling exhibition of over 400 pieces will be hosted by the UFS Department of Architecture from 11-23 July 2016. The exhibition, a project of the Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU) School of Architecture is the first exhibition of its kind on this scale.

First exhibition of its kind

The architect Boban Varghese, the head of the Department of Architecture at NMMU, said that a series of projects furthering academic engagements are being implemented under his leadership. This travelling exhibition of first-year architecture students is one of these.

The NMMU School of Architecture is engaged in addressing architectural education that is appropriate and relevant as it responds to the contextual challenges shaped by local and global issues.

Students’ work received recognition

Besides being recognition of student work, which is normally confined within the walls of the Schools of Architecture, the aim of the travelling exhibition is not only to introduce the work to students of other Architecture Schools and the architecture profession itself, but also to share the discipline of architecture with a wider public. In this sense, the exhibition is an educational and cultural event.

This important aspect is manifested in the generous support of the UFS Department of Architecture in sponsoring the second exhibition during the Free State Arts Festival, as a collaborative project between two Schools of Architecture. A third exhibition of the work is foreseen in Johannesburg during the annual Architecture Students Congress at Wits later this year.

432 pieces part of research programme

The exhibition PALLADIO AND THE MODERN
is the first exhibition of its kind of first-year
architecture students’ work in South Africa.

The exhibition entitled PALLADIO AND THE MODERN shows the first two projects of the first-year students when they have just arrived from school with little experience in architectural drawings and in building architectural models. Their dedicated commitment to the task of producing 288 drawings and 144 models - a total 432 exhibition pieces - forms part of a three-year research programme (2013-2015) in architectural composition conducted by the Senior Lecturer in Architecture, Ernst Struwig, Dr Magda Minguzzi and Jean-Pierre Basson. All the work exhibited is done by hand.

In the exhibition, the 36 villas of the Renaissance architect, Andrea Palladio (1508-1580), initiate a dialogue with the 36 houses of 20th and 21st international and national architects in their reciprocal theme of exploring the language of architecture.

Visiting hours: Monday to Friday 09:00-16:00
Exhibition closes on 23 July 2016

Sponsors:
Department of Architecture UFS; NMMU; Stauch Vorster Architects; The Matrix Urban Designers and Architects Cc; Adendorff Architects and Interiors Cc; NOH Architects; Thembela Architects (Pty) Ltd; Erik Voight Architects; DMV Architecture, MMK Architects; IMBONO F. J. A. Architects CC; dhk Architects; LYT Architecture; B4 Architects.

 

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