Author: Stephen Pettitt

Currently in my third year studying journalism at Rhodes University I have been with Grocott's since the beginning of 2015. I started as a junior writer and now do various forms of reporting on any of the sport that happens in and around Grahamstown as well as the Eastern Cape.

The Rhodes University tennis team finished fifth in the A section of the annual University Sport South Africa (USSA) tournament held at North West University Potchefstroom held between 3 July and 7 July. Rhodes began their week against hosts NWU Pukke and put up a very good fight despite going down heavily in a match where the scores did not reflect the situation on the court. Things did not get much better on day two of the tournament as they went up against University of Free State Kovsies who have been the team to beat for the last decade or…

Read More

Old Graeme boy Jon-Jon Smuts has capped off a career changing season for the Warriors with a call-up to the South Africa ‘A’ 50 over squad for their tour against the England Lions in May/June. Smuts who, captained the Warriors to the final of the CSA T20 challenge and Momentum One-Day Cup, earned a call-up to the senior squad earlier this year and made his international T20 debut against Sri Lanka on 20 January. He finished the T20 challenge as the competitions leading run scorer and scored some fantastic knocks which included a century to help the Warriors to their…

Read More

Over the Easter weekend, the Graeme College, St Andrews as well as Kingswood 1st XV rugby teams travelled to Johannesburg to take part in various Easter sports festivals. Graeme and St Andrews were part of the St Stithians festival whilst Kingswood took to the fields of the King Edward VII School (KES) festival. St Andrews got their weekend off to a flying start by beating St David’s Marist Inanda 39-10 whilst Graeme almost managed to upset the hosts St Stithians going down narrowly 17-19. On the other hand, Kingwood had a rude awakening as they went down to HS…

Read More

It was 05:45 on 15 April, a dark and cold morning in Cape Town where I found myself in the most unlikely of places: the starting pen of the Old Mutual Two Oceans Half-marathon. As a none runner, waiting for the gun to go off at 06:10 to signify the start of my daunting 21.1km journey to the finish line, I was nothing short of terrified, a sight that was apparently amusing to those around me given the laughs I received from my girlfriend and others. A little under two hours later however, I crossed the finish line after what was…

Read More

Grocotts sports editor Stephen Penney will set the record for the youngest person to run 25 consecutive Two Oceans marathons when he completes the Ultra Marathon this weekend. The now 42-year-old ran his first Two Oceans ultra at just 18 back in 1993 and has not missed one since, breaking the record for the youngest to reach 20 events along the way. Speaking about the event, Penney says he still gets emotional at the start despite his experience: “It gets pretty emotional every time I go to the start, probably just because to me it’s a miracle just getting to my 25th.”…

Read More