Dear Nedbank Running Club Chairs, Committees and Members

The year 2017 was definitely one of the best ever for the Nedbank Running Club (NRC), as well as for all our runners.

The Nedbank green gazebos and feather flags were seen all over South Africa and our runners dominated the roads in all major races across South Africa. One of the highlights of the year was the massive field of more than 1 100 runners competing in NRC colours at the Comrades Marathon and the 860 runners at the Two Oceans Marathon. Our Nedbank athletes formed the backbone of all the provincial road running teams that competed in the SA Championship events in road running, cross-country as well as track and field events.

While the NRC itself went from strength to strength this year, our elite athletes delivered top-notch performances week in and week out. All credit for the success that the clubs achieved this year goes out to members of the NRC under the capable and strong leadership of our Chairs and Club Committees. On the social front all our NRC branches across South Africa must be applauded for the manner in which they looked after the interest of our club members.

This year also saw us broadening our horizons; on the international front we expanded our boundaries outside of South Africa by successfully launching NRC in Lesotho, Zimbabwe and Ethiopia. With this we have grown our total membership locally and internationally to 4 005 as it stands now, which is an increase of 396 runners from last year.

Comrades Marathon

We are immensely proud of our athletes who excelled in all major road and trail races across the country as well as internationally. Some of these athletes include American Camille Herron, who won the 2017 Comrades Marathon in outstanding style. She was well supported with top performances from her Nedbank Green Dream Teammates such as Charné Bosman (3rd), Gerda Steyn (4th), Jasmin Nunige (5th) and Sarah Bard (6th). Apart from their fantastic individual achievements, these remarkable women made the NRC proud by winning the ladies’ team prize at Comrades.

Our men’s Green Dream Team also impressed with Hatiwande Nyamande as runner-up in the Comrades Marathon followed by Ludwick Mamabolo, Siphiwe Ndlela, Steve Way and Fritjof Fagerlund who all flew the green flag high by placing 4th, 6th, 9th and 10th respectively. The men’s team also won the team competition.

Old Mutual Two Oceans Half Marathon and Ultra Marathon

The most outstanding performance at the Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon was Lungile Gongqa winning the men’s race against strong national and international competition. The women’s race was just as impressive with Maryna Damantsevich from Belarus, representing the Nedbank International team, winning despite both her knees bleeding after she fell at the start. It was the first time that we also won the men’s and women’s half-marathon races with Namakoe Nkhasi and Irvette van Zyl running to victory.

Great performances countrywide

There were a host of other great performances in 2017 to add to the NRC’s achievements: Colin Parura won the Om Die Dam Marathon, Irvette van Zyl claimed victory at the Soweto Marathon and Mamorallo Tjoka broke the tape in the women’s race at the Mandela Day Marathon, while Tekletsion Tefera won the men’s race. Irvette won the Pretoria and Johannesburg legs of the Spar Ladies Series. Not to forget Eric Ngubane, who was unbeatable at a host of major trail races across South Africa.

Great performances at various other races came from David Manja, Phillimon Mathiba, Joel Mmone, Sibusiso Nzima, Xolisa Tyali, Mthandazo Qhina, Fikile Mbuthuma, Precious Mashele, Thabang Mosiako, Ntombesintu Mfunsi and Rutenda Nyahora.

World Championships

Five athletes from the NRC were chosen to represent South African and compete at the World Championships in August in London. They were Lungile Gongqa with his qualifying time of 2:11:59 at the Cape Town Marathon, Sibusiso Nzima with his 2:15 at the Cape Town Marathon and Irvette Van Zyl with her 2:32 at the London Marathon time. Stalwart Rutendo Nyahora represented Zimbabwe and Namakoe Nkhasi (Two Oceans 21 km winner) represented Lesotho.

On the track we also had several athletes, such as Liza Kellerman, Thabang Mosiako and Namakoe Nkasi, who performed very well.

Development programmes

The NRC’s development programmes across the country are very well managed and have been producing solid and promising results. Former marathon star Pio Mpolokeng, manager and coach of the NRC Klerksdorp in Central North West, is one of the best in South Africa with several development athletes performing at the highest level in major races in the country under his mentorship. On top of this many developing athletes also represented their countries in the Southern Region Championships and some have already been chosen to represent South Africa in the next Commonwealth Games. A special mention goes to Thabang Mosiako and Presious Mashele who both received medals at the SA Cross Country Championships.

We are delighted by the superb work of the NRC development group in Soweto, under the very capable chairmanship of Siyaya Khoza. Siyaya grew the club to more than 220 members and his development runners dominate road races and the cross-country scene in Central Gauteng, with a couple of South African champions in his group too.

Our newly added development initiative in Gauteng North is also moving forward. This club is under the management of athlete Enoch Skosana, who has represented South Africa many times. His athletes rule the cross-country and track scene in Pretoria.

An exciting 2018 is on the cards for Bloemfontein and East London where we are in the process of establishing development clubs.

 

All thanks to our sponsor Nedbank

We thank Nedbank wholeheartedly for sponsoring and having faith in our clubs. We also thank the bank in advance for its ongoing support in the next couple of years. With a sponsor such as Nedbank the NRC and its athletes can approach the future with confidence.

We are very pleased that Nedbank Marketing committed to support the running clubs until the end of December 2019. The very capable Tobie Badenhorst and Kelly Thompson steer the Nedbank sponsorship office in Sandton.

New members

Please remember that our members are our biggest assets and we must ensure that we are ready for them to join our clubs without any problems in 2018. Please ensure that there won’t be a shortage of running gear. In addition, take note that ASA suggested that, for 2018, provinces are allowed to distribute club licence numbers only after the clubs have handed in the completed licence forms signed by the respective athletes. Please see that your administration is in place to ensure a smooth joining process by the first week of January 2018.

Nedbank Running Club partners and sponsors

We are very fortunate to have partners and sponsors that contribute towards the success of our athletes as well as providing the added benefits that our members receive during the year. Therefore we want to thank our co-sponsors Nike SA, Biogen and FUTURELIFE for their contribution to the NRC and towards our success this year.

A special mention also goes to Southern Sun The Cullinan in Cape Town, which always ensures that our athletes get the royal treatment and a special rate during all our races in Cape Town.

2018 season

ASA implemented a host of new rules that will be enforced in 2018.

The new rule 24:12:5, below, is of particular importance.

24.12.5 Clubs with the same province, city, town name, must add a suitable differentiator before or after the name e.g. Benoni Harriers; Benoni Striders; Benoni Central, etc. Note: Where there is doubt if the name of the club is eligible, the club must contact ASA, via the province, in writing to obtain clarity.

Clubs with branches in different provinces eg Eskom, RW4L, Nedbank, SANDF etc., when using a standardised kit design, should use appropriate cloth patches to highlight the different provincial membership. Eg Eskom WP, EC, FS etc.

We will provide you with the necessary iron-on patches that you need to distribute to your members.

Transfer Instructions for the Nedbank RC Iron on patch:

1. Separate clear tape and plastic backing

• print should be facing up
• print should be sticking onto the clear tape

1. Place the clear tape onto the running vest over the Nedbank Running Club logo
2. Place a white cotton fabric onto the running vest.
3. Using a hot iron gently iron the print for 25-30 seconds using a hot iron.
4. After the running vest has cooled down gently peel the clear plastic from the print and the running vest with only the print remaining behind.

Please make arrangements and have all the necessary tools to be able to handle the rush in the new season. Here are some pointers.

• All clubs should make arrangements to attend the very first race in their respective provinces with a full set of licence numbers, joining and registration forms and club kits. The club gazebo and club representatives should be at all the races in your province for at least January and February, as this time is crucial for recruiting new NRC members.
• We are waiting in anticipation to find out when the new 2018 licence numbers will be available, but the 2017 licences will be allowed until 31 January 2018.
• A friendly reminder to distribute advertising pamphlets with your club’s contact details and joining procedures at all the races during January and February 2018.
• Please try and plan your AGM long in advance to ensure everyone at the club is aware of the AGM to enable as many people as possible to attend. This will allow the election of a strong committee to look after the needs of the members.

Other sporting activities under the IAAF and ASA constitution

Historically the NRC has concentrated on road running events, and that will continue to be our main focus, but we ask you to pay special attention to the needs of your members regarding IAAF/ASA standards, namely cross-country, race walking as well as track and field.

Trail running is becoming very popular. It would be a good idea to start catering for athletes interested in it, especially in the light of the amount of publicity it has been generating lately. In doing so, we could attract many junior members as school children are restricted from running long-distance road races, and they are mostly involved in cross-country and track events. A good idea is to consider a junior trophy or two in your annual awards ceremonies.

Nedbank Running Club/Nike kit

The current NIKE gear will still be available for next year and we still have men’s vests and shorts in stock as well as ladies vests, shorts, crop tops, bikini bottoms, tights, golf shirts, T-shirts and a limited amount of track suits and ¾ tights. We will order some of the out-of-stock sizes from Anatomic.

Important: Please note that a limited amount of top elite athletes (the so-called A batch runners) will be boasting the new Nedbank running vest that is made according to IAAF advertising standards. We are confident that this – together with the new NRC logo – will be available to the rest of the athletes from January 2019. We are proud of our gear and the fact that the Nedbank Green Team stands out on the roads in South Africa.

Sponsorship allowance to Nedbank Running Clubs for the 2018 season

We realise that the incentive scheme that we tried in the past three running seasons worked well, and we will continue with this incentivised sponsorship structure for the 2018 season. Clubs will be incentivised for efficiency and performance by their committees and runners. Nedbank Clubs that perform well, measured by their performance over the year, will benefit financially