Mpumalanga athletes fly at Rob Ferreira

Athletes from every corner of the province, seeking to qualify for the SA championships, descended on Rob Ferreira High School for the 2025 Athletics Mpumalanga Championships on March 8.

These championships served as the final chance for Mpumalanga athletes to qualify for the SA Age Group Championships set to be held at Green Point Stadium in Cape Town at the end of March.

Thanks to there being no rain in the build-up to the meet, Rob’s track and field were in great condition and ready to deliver some brilliant times, distances and heights. It was also the first time Rob Ferreira hosted the Mpumalanga champs, as it’s usually held in Secunda.

The athletes were raring and ready to go, too, after a long athletics season had built up to this moment to make a claim to earn Mpumalanga colours. Prior to the weekend, a vast number of athletes had qualified for the SA championships through other ASA-accredited meets, including the BUCO Lowveld Interhigh where no fewer than 27 athletes made the provincial team.

ALSO READ: BUCO Lowveld Interhigh 2025

In spite of this, a large number still participated to either improve their qualifying time, distance or height, while for others it was a last ditch attempt.

The Rob Ferreira track lived up to its billing as being the fastest grass track in the province, delivering some unbelievable times throughout the day. A perfect example was the boys U19 100m, where the top six all ran under 11 seconds, and the top five all qualified for the SA champs.

Another case was Hoërskool Ermelo athlete Kryn Romijn, who came within half a second of breaking a 31-year-old record in the boys U19 400m. He improved on his personal best time (which was set on a tartan track) by a full second, clocking an unbelievable 45.61sec on Saturday.

It is believed he is the first U19 Mpumalanga athlete to ever run a sub-46 second time on a grass track. The Mpumalanga record of 45.15sec, held by legendary athlete Riaan Dempers, was set on the Secunda tartan track in 1994. Kryn will undoubtedly be eyeing the record when he takes to the Green Point tartan track in two weeks’ time.

While Kryn came close, there were six athletes who set new Mpumalanga records. When the final race concluded, a total of 68 athletes had qualified to represent Mpumalanga at the SA Age Group Championships from March 27 to 30. Of these 68, no fewer than 25 hail from Ehlanzeni.