Staff Reporter

The Khomas region, represented by the Windhoek Gymnasium Private School, won the inaugural U/17 Relay championships held at the Independence Stadium on Saturday.

The championships were contested by schools from 13 regions. Only the Kunene region could not send a team. Before Saturday, competitions were held among schools within the different regions to select their teams for the national event.

It was organised jointly by the Namibia Schools Sport Union and Athletics Namibia (AN) in preparation for an U/18 international school sports event next year in France.

The Gymnasium boys reigned supreme in the 4x100 metre and 4x400m races to win gold in both, and Gymnasium’s girls won silver in 4x100m and bronze in 4x400m. The school ended second in the mixed (boys and girls) medley 1 000m race to earn the region a combined total score of 42 out of five events.

The Kuisebmond Secondary School from the Erongo region ended second overall with 21 points, following gold in the girls’ 4x400m race and bronze in the mixed medley.

The Tsau||khaeb Secondary School from //Kharas region ended third overall with 18 points after winning the mixed medley relay and silver in the boys 4x400m race.

NSSU national coordinator Solly Duiker said the event was held under difficult circumstances following the outbreak of Covid-19 last year, but the partnership between the union, the ministry and AN made it possible for the event to take place.

“We kept on pushing and today we can see the smiles on the faces of the athletes and coaches, because they worked very hard since last September until now,” he noted.

All the first places are records as it was an inaugural event.

“We will see how many records will be broken next year, as this is going to be an annual event.”

Duiker noted that it was the last event on the NSSU calendar, as learners now approach end-of-year examinations. He appealed to the learners to continue training to have healthy bodies and minds, and perform well in the examinations.