SPORT IN BRIEF

Cycling with the best

Grahamstown mountain biker, Jason Meaton finished in the top 10 of last Saturday’s Herald Continental Cycle Tour mountain bike race over 80km. There were a total of 33 finishers. Meaton finished seventh overall in a time of 3:14:14 in what was described by some as a “mud fest”. Overall winner was Andrew Hill in 2:52:31. This is Meaton’s third race of the year, coming up against South Africa’s top mountain bikers. Mechanical problems forced him out of contention during the Attakwas Extreme Mountain Bike Challenge, billed as South Africa’s toughest extreme one-day mountain bike race. Meaton still managed to finish, 233rd overall (out of 948 finishers) and 35th in his category, in a time of 5:08:50 in the 121km race. He then finished 18th (8th senior) in the Ashburton Investments Nationals MTB Series in Grabouw at the end of January. Meaton said he plans to race a number of national events this year, which take place across the country. The "ironman" will be in action again this Sunday, in the Herald Continental Cycle Tour 106km Classic in Port Elizabeth. Meaton will line up in the C1 start, together with SA's top road cyclists. The following week will see Meaton take part in the PEPlett 4 Day MTB stage race starting at Woodridge College in Port Elizabeth and finishing at Natures Valley in Plettenberg Bay.

Herald 60Km tour

The Herald Continental Cycle Tour mountain bike events took place in Addo over the past weekend. While Jason Meaton was the only local rider to take part in the 80km event, a number of locals took to the 60km race. Due to the heavy rains that had fallen in the region the previous evening, race officials changed sections of the route for safety reasons. Cyclists still endured wet and muddy conditions through the Zuurberg Mountains. First home among the locals in the 60km was Lloyd Vos who finished third overall in 2 hours 18 minutes 22 seconds. Also finishing among the top 10 was Derrick Lottering, who finished 9th overall in 2:27:54. See results of Grahamstown athletes in Know the Score on Page 25.

St Andrew’s visit Strelitzia

St Andrew’s College U16A and 1st XI football sides visited Strelitzia High school in Uitenhage on Monday.

In the U15 match, it took all of 15 minutes for Strelitzia’s attack to dismantle St Andrew’s for 1-0. One of the visitors’ several attacking chances was finished off by Luc Rushmere, after a great set-up by Zion Makani. 1-1. St Andrew’s enjoyed a number of second half attacks, with Tom Russel constantly asking questions of the Strelitzia defence, but the home goalkeeper swatted away a number of shots. With fives minutes remaining, a Streilitzia break-away culminated in a second goal; and the last of the match, leaving St Andrew's to rue a host of missed chances. After being comprehensively outclassed throughout the first half (losing 4-1), St Andrew's firsts came out all guns blazing in the second. A clinical finish by Toa Varty, as well as a period of inspiring play by the likes of Ryan Kabatwo and Zadok Makani eventually narrowed the deficit, with St Andrew’s trailing by a single goal with 15 minutes to play. That was as good as it got for the away side however as, despite Tom More's attempted free kick (which was inches away from goal), another goal was conceded before the final whistle. The highly-entertaining affair eventually ending at 5-3, to make it a clean sweep for Strelitzia on a successful day for local Eastern Cape footballing talent.

Bowls Away!

The third Round of the Eastern Areas League was played at the Port Alfred Bowling Club on 19 February. Port Alfred BC currently lead the 1st league standings with 14 points, tied with Grahamstown BC but with a better shot profit. Albany BC are third, followed by Kowie BC and Kenton BC. In the 2nd league, Kenton BC are tops with 18 points, followed by Kowie, Port Alfred and Albany.

DSG siblings taking on South Africa’s best

The Diocesan School for Girls’ 1st water polo team has been preparing in earnest for the Old Petrians Water Polo Tournament in Johannesburg from 23 to 26 February. ‘Old Pets’, as it is fondly referred to, is the season-ending tournament for South African school girls’ water polo. Widely regarded as being the pinnacle of the season, all the top water polo schools in the country attend this tournament. Competition is fierce and, unofficially, the winners are widely regarded as being the national school champions of the sport. This year the DSG 1st water polo team is a family affair as two sets of sisters are in the team and will be travelling to Johannesburg to take part in the event. Asia Hickey and Daisy Martin (both Grade 12) will have the special privilege of playing in a team with their very talented siblings, Josie Hickey and Lucy Martin (both Grade 10). EP U18 player, Daisy Martin, had some inspirational advice for her younger sister, Lucy, (who has just been promoted to the DSG 1st team) – “always have fun and always persevere”. However, these are not the only sibling teams associated with water polo at DSG this year. Team member Amy Anderson’s older sister, Robyn, is the assistant coach for the 1st team. Mark Evans, who is the head coach, confirmed that it is unique to have so many sets of sisters in the same team. He is excited about the tournament and is confident in the team’s ability to do well this week as they have been working and training hard. Emma van Vuuren, the DSG captain, leads the team with the motto “Be courageous and fearless”, and hopefully the added advantage of the Martin and Hickey combinations in the pool will help inspire the DSG 1st team to a top finish at ‘Old Pets’ this weekend.

Compiled by Stephen Penney and Shaun Goosen