Three Salt River schools, who for various reasons were not able to compete at inter-school athletic events, were delighted to take part in an athletics meeting among themselves.
The pupils of Wesley Practising School, Cecil Road Primary and Dryden Street Primary took part in the inaugural Athletics Triangular Meeting on March, 8 at the Malta Park Sports Complex in Observatory.
The event was initiated by the Wesley Practising School who have been going through a transitional period that left them without any extra-curricular activities in the past two to three years.
New principal Andre Engel, recognised the need for these activities and thought that an inter-school athletics programme would be a good way to get pupils and school staff
involved.
As it was too late to enter a zonal inter-school competition, Mr Engel thought that it would be good to reach out to their neighbouring schools to see if they would be interested in competing in an athletics event.
Cecil Road Primary School had been ready to compete in a district athletics event in Athlone, however, due to a roof collapsing at the Vygieskraal Stadium, the event was cancelled. Dryden Street Primary’s athletics event was cancelled due to the water crises which meant that they could not use the council fields.
Dalla Abbas from the All Stars Football Development programme in Observatory helped the three schools secure the Malta Park Sports complex in Observatory as a venue.
He said as he assists in fostering youth and development for the All Stars, an initiative like this would also boost sport development for the youth of those schools.
Mr Abbas liaised with the City of Cape Town to use the field for the event and they agreed.
The triangular athletic event only had track events.
There were potato and spoon and three-legged races for the junior pupils and 100m, 800m and 4x100m relay events for the older ones.
In what was a closely competitive Athletics Triangular Meeting, Cecil Road Primary School finished first, Wesley Practising School second and Dryden Street Primary third.
The real winners of the day were the residents of Salt River who got to witness the event which was a morale boost for the entire community.
Mr Engel was grateful the event could take place with his two neighbouring schools.
“Words of gratitude must be extended to all teachers, including the principals of Cecil and Dryden, and officials for contributing towards making positive memories. Thanks for doing what you do every day and for now also taking it outdoors,” said Mr Engel.
