In a flash, the first school term of the year has come to an end, almost as fast as the times clocked by athletes at recent competitions. With the Cape metropole unable to host major athletics events this season, the stage is now set for national high schools finals, in Paarl, starting today, Wednesday April 3 until Saturday April 6

Organisers of schools athletics competitions hardly had time to catch their breath since the beginning of the school year as coaches and administrators scrambled to put together teams to compete at various meets - including the inter-schools, zonal, regional, provincial and Western Cape championships. This is in itself an accomplishment, almost as impressive as records broken at these events.

But it comes at a cost, huge sacrifice and a tremendous team effort, says Northern Zone and Western Province High Schools Athletics chairperson, Deon Wertheim. With limited venues - some of them not completely up to standard - and resources available, Wertheim and co have to make do with what they’ve got to create a platform for promising athletes to showcase their talents.

South Peninsula Athletic Club’s Jamiel Marcus, on his way to winning the boys’ under-19 triple event at the WP High Schools and WPA Junior championships, at Vygieskraal, in March. The youngster won the triple and high jump events.Picture: Fuad Esack

He said finding a suitable athletics stadium within the City of Cape Town is a major challenge as the two ideal stadiums, Bellville Velodrome and Green Point Stadium are both unavailable.

The Velodrome, he said, has been out of commission for 10 years, and maintenance work at Green Point Athletics Stadium left them with no option other than Vygieskraal.

“Every year we have to fight with the City of Cape Town for stadiums,” he said .

“Their stadiums are not SASREA compliant,” he said, referring to the Safety at Sports and Recreational Act, which aims to safeguard the physical well-being and safety of persons at sports and other events held at stadiums.

“All our administrators running our competitions are full time teachers with tremendous educational work loads. Our services are voluntary, we don't receive a salary or payment for our services. We get a stipend to cover transport costs and cellphone costs. The stipend doesn't cover half of our personal expenses incurred as an athletics administrator. Planning, booking of venues and so on, occurs in October of the previous year so that schools can use it as part of their planning for the next academic year,” he said.

Runners take off at the start of the boys’ under-19 800m race, at the WP High Schools and WPA Junior championships, at Vygieskraal, in March. Picture: Fuad Esack

“Vygieskraal was not our first choice. Despite it being a purpose built stadium, it lacked many things which should have been in place, but were not,” he said.

“As a school organisation we had to, at great expense, put many things in place for us to be able to use the stadium. We had to partially fix the discs cage (a safety feature) which has been broken for five years already.

“We had to bring in stopper boards for the shot put area, which should be part of the stadium equipment, we had to manufacture our own long jump take off boards and we had to draw our own sector lines as nobody, including the stadium manager, appointed at this athletics purpose built stadium, knew how to draw the athletics sector lines.

Northern Zone’s Liam Klink goes through his paces in the boys’ under-19 long jump event WP High Schools and WPA Junior championships, at Vygieskraal, earlier this month. Organisers say they’ve had to manufacture its own long jump take off boards. Picture: Fuad Esack

“The pylon lights at Vygieskraal did not work for a number of years, hence we could not extend our competitions into the night, which meant we had to extend our competitions which meant extra expenses,” he said.

Bellville Athletics Stadium, once the “jewel in the crown” of the City of Cape Town, says Wertheim, has been allowed to degenerate into a haven for vagrants.

“The Green Point Athletics Stadium could also not be used, because in the heart of the athletics season, they lifted the tartan track to replace it. Hence, Green Point Stadium could not be used in the athletics season. Every year the schools and the federation have to compete with other events, including the Cape Town Cycle Tour for the use of the stadium. When this happens we can't host the Western Cape athletics championship or the national championship in this region,” he said.

Another big challenge, he said, is the costs associated with staging big athletic events with no major sponsorship or financial aid.

“Our inter-schools competitions on average cost approximately R70 000 per event. Roughly speaking, schools had for the season in the different zones, 21 inter-schools competitions. Each zone had their own zonal championship, which cost approximately R 80 000 per day, Certain zones had two days, others had a three-day championship.The joint WP championship, held at Vygieskraal, cost R450 000 for the four days it came to,” he said.

Northern Zones Aadam Arend, centre, on his way to winning the boys’ under-19 110m hurdles at last month’s WP High Schools and WPA Junior championships, at Vygieskraal. Picture: Fuad Esack

“As far as track and field performance is concerned, athletes from schools in the northern suburbs dominated with approximately 75% of the WP team being Northern Zone athletes,” Wertheim said.

“The dominance of the Northern Zone can be ascribed to the fact that in the northern suburbs the athletes have more access to athletics facilities which have more resident clubs at these facilities with the necessary coaches, as opposed to the southern suburbs, Mitchell’s Plain, Cape Flats, Khayelitsha and surrounding areas,” said Wertheim.

Northern Zone’s Jaheim Jacobs, flanked by False Bay Zone’s Naphtali Esau, left, and teammate Markie Munzimba, takes the lead in the boys’ under-19 800m final, at the joint WP High Schools and WPA Junior championships, held at Vygieskraal. Picture: Fuad Esack

He said that this year’s WP championships, held at Vygieskraal earlier this month, was a joint four-day affair between WP Schools and WP Athletics.

“It made sense to have a condensed athletics programme in February and March, rather than to have two separate WP competitions. Both organisations select their WP teams separately in preparation for participation in the Western Cape Schools Athletics Championship (schools only)] and for their respective national competitions,” he said.

The National High Athletics Schools Championship will be hosted by Western Cape Schools Athletics at the Dal Josafat Stadium in Paarl from Wednesday April 3 to Saturday April 6.

Bellville Athletic Club’s Lana Oberholzer shows her class in the girls’ under-19 110m hurdles at the WP High Schools and Western Province Athletics Junior championships, at Vygieskraal, three weeks ago. Picture: Fuad Esack

In response to some of the issues raised by Wertheim, Patricia van der Ross, Mayoral committee member for community services and health, said the City, through its Recreation and Parks Department, provides sporting facilities (including athletic facilities) for community sporting activities.

As such, the City does not have a mandate to specifically provide facilities for school sport. That is the mandate of the Provincial Department of Education.

The City, however, is aware that many schools do not have the required sport facilities and sometimes do not have the means to pay for private or City facilities.

“As such, Recreation and Parks facilities are available to be booked by any school based on availability. In addition, the department also has a Concessions Policy that makes provision for users that do not have the financial means to afford the applicable tariff, to apply for a concession. This policy was introduced to ensure that lack of finances does not become a barrier to access to facilities and sport and recreation opportunities.

“The demand on City facilities by multiple sporting codes and organisations is however immense and sustainable use needs proper management and coordination. It is for this reason that the Recreation and Parks Department initiates formal processes and ongoing engagements with the Provincial Department of Sport, Arts and Culture, the Provincial Education Department and Western Province Athletics to facilitate and coordinate the use of City facilities for school districts and provincial events.

“The department is not aware of any school district having to ‘fight’ for access to facilities for the season. However, given the demand versus available facilities, coordination and compromise will be needed to afford everyone equitable opportunities.

“The Erica Park Stadium is currently the only SASREA compliant Recreation and Parks facility for athletics.

“The Green Point Athletic Stadium is also SASREA compliant. However, it is managed by Strategic Assets, a different City Department, and has not been available this season due to the upgrade and resurfacing of the track (GPAS) and ancillary infrastructure. This information was communicated to all stakeholders and affected parties well in advance.

“The SASREA compliance issue does not apply to events where the facility is a purpose built facility and if there are fewer than 2 000 participants and spectators. As such, schools have made use of several available facilities during the season. The City has a specific programme for the upgrade and maintenance of athletic facilities and this plan has also been shared with the role-players mentioned,” said Van der Ross.