Coetzenburg Athletics Stadium in Stellenbosch welcomed 1,995 athletes from 57 schools for this year’s Curro Podium South, the biggest edition yet. The primary school meeting saw 48 records, while the high school competition added another 19, taking the total to 67 records across the two meetings.
Now in its second year, the primary school competition was held on Friday and drew 601 athletes from 19 schools. It is open to athletes aged 7 to 13, who compete for individual and team honours.
Among the primary athletes, Dylan Calvert of Meridian Pinehurst was again hard to catch. The sprinter made headlines in 2025 when he broke an 18-year-old national record in the U11 80m, and he followed that up by winning the Boys Junior 100m and 150m in 11.80 and 17.59 seconds. He was one of four athletes to set two records at the meeting, alongside his schoolmates Dale Fillies and Chelsea Witbooi.
The top three primary schools were Durbanville Primary School, the Namibia Private School Organisation (NAPSO) and Huguenot Primary School.
The high school field arrived with its reputation already made: African champions, national record holders and provincial record setters, many of them still in their teens.
Jayden Fourie of Paarl Gimnasium won the 200m and long jump at the 2025 African Youth Games in Luanda. Paul Roos Gimnasium’s Vuyo Ngobeni has been quick for years, from winning the U11 100m at the SA Primary School Championships to setting a Western Cape 100m record of 10.75 this season. Paarl Girls’ High’s Lara Stander is an African cross-country champion, and La Rochelle’s Lamicah Adamson, still only 14, broke the national U15 200m record.
That standard showed from the first race. Fourie ran 10.37 in the Boys 17 100m, a Podium record. In the Boys 15 100m, Ngobeni clocked 10.56, with Khotso Motsamai just behind in 10.67.
The field events produced some of the biggest marks of the weekend. Paarl Gimnasium’s Tyron Oncke launched the Boys 15 discus out to 73.47m, a huge throw for a national U16 champion who was a top-scoring U14 thrower only a year ago. The pole vault saw three records in three age groups, with Reinhardt van Heerden clearing 4.72m in the Boys 17 event, Alwyn Esterhuizen going over at 4.30m in the Boys 15 and Elvis Hwata matching that height in the Boys 19.
In the high school team competition, Paarl Gimnasium took first place in the boys’ standings, followed by Hoërskool Outeniqua and Paarl Boys’ High. Paarl Girls’ High topped the girls’ competition, with Hoër Meisieskool Bloemhof in second place and Paarl Gimnasium in third. In the combined team standings, Paarl Gimnasium, Hoërskool Outeniqua and Hoërskool Durbanville claimed the top three places.
“It’s encouraging to see how the meeting has grown from more than 1,400 athletes last year to almost 2,000 this year. The records set this year reflect the level of competition and the talent among the athletes. Curro Podium gives them the chance to measure themselves against their peers, and we want to keep creating opportunities for them to compete and develop,” said Cindy van der Merwe, Curro Sport Portfolio Manager.
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