Five highlights: SA Athletics Championships

Long-distance runner Tayla Kavanagh in action at the SA Athletics Championships in Stellenbosch. Picture: Cecilia van Bers/Gallo Images Some of South Africa’s top track and field athletes were missing from the SA Senior Championships in Stellenbosch which concluded in Stellenbosch on Saturday. Those who attended were superb, however, and they produced some memorable results.

One of South Africa’s fastest men, Dambile delivered perhaps the best performance of the domestic showpiece. The defending champion, who reached the final at the World Championships last year, stormed to a convincing victory in the men’s 200m event in 20.02 seconds. Dambile forms part of a phenomenal training group in Pretoria (also including Gift Leotlela and Bayanda Walaza) who look set to take on the world, and after narrowly missing the 20-second barrier in cold and wet conditions in only his second race of the year, we’ll wait for the global circuit to see him at his best.

It feels a bit silly to include Fourie in this list because she arrived, she did her job and she went home. There were no surprises or breakthrough results to make her stand out. But that’s why she makes the list.

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She’s so good we just expect her to deliver. And she always does. Fourie, the national record holder in the women’s 100m hurdles, had no trouble winning gold in her specialist event in 12.69, finishing well clear of rising junior star Tumi Ramokgopa who earned the silver medal.

She came, she saw, she conquered. And next year she will do it again. In the absence of defending champion Glenrose Xaba, Kavanagh had no competition in either the 5 000m or 10 000m finals.

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