Author: Grocott's Mail Contributors

With three weeks to go before the GBS Mutual Bank Mountain Drive Half Marathon, here is the eighth week of Grocott’s Mail’s 12-week training programme, created by Terri-Lynn Penney: Monday Easy 8km Tuesday 15min warm up 4km Time Trial 10min cool down Wednesday easy 10km Thursday 8km over a hilly course pushing up the hills slightly Friday rest Saturday 18km over the mountain Sunday 30min recovery run Terri-Lynn Penney is a local triathlete, having great success around the province, nationally and internationally. Having recently completed her 14th Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, Grocott’s Mail asked Penney for her go-to training programme for…

Grahamstown’s (Makhanda’s) rural teams hosted a tournament of Sport against crime over the past month. The tournament started on 16 June, as the teams  celebrated Youth Month, and have only recently come to an end. The aim of the tournament was to fight against crime among the youth in the rural areas. Five teams participated–Eleven United FC from Broughton Farm, Young City Pros FC from Salem, Flying Stars FC from Gardeners Gate, Pumba Pirates FC from Seven Fountains and Action FC from Mosslands. The games were played over a month, where each weekend’s matches played at different venues to help revive…

Former South African international swimmer, Sarah Ferguson, has linked her talent for swimming to a passion for the environment by joining SPAR Eastern Cape as an ambassador in their Stop Plastic campaign. The long-distance ace was a top pool competitor during the 2000s, swimming for South Africa in a number of World Cups, but is now putting her skills to work for another cause. In July, she formed a partnership with SPAR Eastern Cape in their campaign to educate the public about the dangers of plastic pollution, combining it with challenging swims around the world. She recently completed a 100km…

By Emma Parlabean According to the latest Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) report, early childhood literacy rates remain low, with 78% of Grade 4 pupils in South Africa unable to reading for meaning (understand content). This ultimately affects their self-esteem and ability progress further in their education. The Inkwenkwezi Society aims to implement change through the use of preventative resources provided by national NGOs – such as Wordworks and Shine, to enhance the individual strengths of pupils as well as promote their mental well-being and resilience in schools around Grahamstown. The Inkwenkwezi Society provides individualised reading, writing and speaking…

The St Andrew’s College versus Dale College rugby fixture in King William’s Town is never an easy fixture and this proved to be the case yet again for the SAC First team, as Dale controlled the physical encounter on Saturday 28 July. Whilst SAC were the first to score after a good set piece move, with Matt Royle finishing off, Dale bounced back quickly with a penalty try to level the scores fifteen minutes into the game. Minutes later, Dale took the lead for the first time with a try out wide, which was converted to go 14-7 in front. After a good line-out by…

The St Andrew’s College hockey sides enjoyed competitive matches against Dale College over the past weekend. In great conditions for competitive hockey, SAC looked to get the better of their rivals throughout the day. The U14 A side drew 1-1, with Michael Owen-Jones and Brad Storer making valuable contributions to earn a draw, after they were a goal down. The U16 B side also drew 0-0, in a match where Andrew Mackenzie was solid and composed in defence, and Yash Gopal was hard-working and assisted in creating opportunities for the strikers on attack. The U16 A side also drew 1-1, with Matt Pope and Mikey…

St Andrew’s College head boy, Peter Jarvis, was part of the South African U18 5-a-side hockey team that won gold at the African Youth Games in Algiers, Algeria. The tournament was contested as a Hockey 5s tournament and is a qualifier for the Youth Olympics in Buenos Aires later this year. Jarvis is one of three hockey players from the Eastern Province who made the SA U18 side. Also making the team were Cody Posthumus and Luke Wynford, both from Grey High School. The SA side got their campaign off to winning start beating Namibia 5-0 in their opening pool game. They then beat Zimbabwe…

On Saturday 21 July, the St Andrew’s rugby club hosted Marlow from Cradock. The U14s started the day off really well with both their teams winning comfortably. The U15s had a tougher day with both the A and the B sides losing. SAC’s U16s had a mixed day with the Hawks (16 A) losing narrowly 14-15 and the U16 B winning 38-3. The spread of wins and losses was relatively even, with St Andrews winning 6 and Marlow winning 5 of the games on the day. The Fourth team pulled off a great 33-12 victory, while the Thirds had to fight…

With one week to go before the GBS Mutual Bank Mountain Drive Half Marathon, here is the twelfth week of Grocott’s Mail’s 12-week training programme, created by Terri-Lynn Penney: Week 12 Monday easy 8km Tuesday 15min warm up 4km TT Wednesday easy 10km Thursday easy 8km Friday rest Saturday easy 16km(over the mountain ) Sunday easy 6km recovery Terri-Lynn Penney is a local triathlete, having great success around the province, nationally and internationally. Having recently completed her 14th Two Oceans Ultra Marathon, Grocott’s Mail asked Penney for her go-to training programme for a 21km. With the GBS Mutual Bank Mountain Drive…