Varsity Athletics returns this March
Varsity Athletics returns in March with two meetings.
VARSITY Athletics returns to the athletics calendar for a fifth season in 2017. This year’s Varsity Athletics season will comprise two meetings – the first hosted by the University of Potchefstroom on March 3 and the second on March 31 at the University of Pretoria’s newly renovated stadium.
Some of the athletes taking part in Varsity Athletics this year performed on the Olympic stage in Rio last year, and they’re set to use this platform to build towards Tokyo 2020. Some of the Olympic athletes to have performed on the Varsity Athletics stage include Wayde van Niekerk, Justine Palframan, Rushwal Samaai, LJ van Zyl and Akani Simbine.
The public is sure to be spoilt for choice with scintillating performances from the cream of the crop of South Africa’s athletics community, on both track and field. The likes of Gift Leotlela and Clarence Munyai are set to light up Friday nights on the track. Leotlela is a UP-Tuks student, the current ASA u.20 100m champion and a Rio Olympics athlete.
All the teams will be announced next week.
“My goal is to break Akani’s (Simbine) 100m SA record of 9.96 seconds, and if I can do it at Varsity Athletics, even better,” said Leotlela.
“Varsity Athletics affords fantastic opportunities to our young athletes to help them prepare for the biggest athletics event in the world, the Olympic Games, as well as the World Championships,” said Varsity Athletics Manager, Jana Arlow. “They have such passion and love for the sport, and will certainly do their universities proud during Varsity Athletics in 2017.”
The event will continue with the format introduced last year, with two divisions: the Top 15 (A) division which will have eight competing universities, and the Top 10 (B) division, with four competing universities. This format was adopted to accommodate more universities in the Varsity Athletics competition. The universities that joined Varsity Athletics in 2016 are: the University of Cape Town, Central University of Technology, University of Limpopo, and Vaal University of Technology.
Varsity Athletics is endorsed by Athletics South Africa.
Tickets to both meetings are currently available via the Varsity Sports App. To download the app, simply visit your preferred app store.
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