Athletics Namibia (AN) and the Namibia Schools Sport Union (NSSU) have hailed as successful the just-concluded inaugural under-17 relay nationals at the Independence Stadium in Windhoek.

Speaking at the conclusion of the championships on Saturday, NSSU’s Solly Duiker said 13 regions participated in the event.

“We call upon the Kunene Region to afford our athletes an opportunity to come and compete with their peers. The NSSU and AN partnership prove that we can achieve a lot if we work together,” he explained.

Duiker revealed that the outbreak of COVID-19 had made the future of athletics insecure and threatened doom to the sports, but the partnership made it possible to host the event under difficult conditions.

He added that all the first places at the inaugural event will be listed as records and the athletes as record holders.

“We will see how many records will be broken next year as this is going to be an annual event. This event is the last one for the schools’ programme. We are approaching examinations, so we will start next year in January,” he added.

Deputy Minister of Sport, Youth and National Service, Emma Kantema-Gaomas said as a ministry they are very happy that children were given the necessary exposure.

“It is only through competitions like this where we can identify talent, after which we nurture the talent. This is one of the first such events. We are happy that athletes were given a chance to display their talents,” she explained.

She called on all schools to take the competition seriously.

Meanwhile, Windhoek Gymnasium produced a dominant display when they finished in the top three of all the five events of the competition.

Below are the results of the championships:

Girls U-17 4×100 metres

Gold – Edugate Academy (52.50 seconds)

Silver – Windhoek Gymnasium (52.72s)

Bronze – Lüderitz Secondary School (55.13s)

Girls U-17 4x400m

Gold – Kuisebmund Secondary School (4 minutes, 22.15s)

Silver – Ndiyona Combined School (4:22.70s)

Bronze – Waterberg Private School (4:24.75s)

Boys U-17 4x100m

Gold – Windhoek Gymnasium (43.73s)

Silver – Danie Joubert Combined School (45.13s)

Bronze – !garibams Secondary School (45.53s)

Boys U-17 4x400m

Gold – Windhoek Gymnasium (3 minutes, 34.07s)

Silver – Tsau||khaeb Secondary School (3:35.54s)

Bronze – KJ Kapeua Secondary School (3:40.12s)

Mixed U-17 1 000 Sprint Medley

Gold – Tsau||khaeb Secondary School (2 minutes, 11.69s)

Silver – Windhoek Gymnasium (2:13.94s)

Bronze – Kuisebmund Secondary School (2:16.67s)

Source: The Namibian Press Agency