OSC abuzz with activity

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KNYSNA NEWS AND GALLERY - The Oakhill Sports Campus (OSC) was a hive of activity last week and weekend, with the facility playing host to Oakhill's annual U13 hockey festival as well as a cross-country cycling (Xco) event.

Oakhill enjoyed a busy week of preparation for both events. The U13 Oakhill Co-Ed Hockey Festival was the first to get underway, on Thursday 21 April.

It was the second of three hockey festivals that Oakhill is hosting this month - the first having been the U19s and the final one this coming weekend for the U16s.

PHOTO GALLERY: OSC hosts Hockey - and Cycling events

The three-day festival played host to 19 boys and girls teams representing 12 different schools from around the country.

The matches continued on Friday and Saturday, with an exhilarating match between Paarl Boys' Primary School and Clarendon Park Primary School providing a fitting end to a great weekend of hockey action.

Find a full list of the results on the school's website.Yandisa Lithole carries the ball forward for Oakhill.

Xco action

While the kids were chasing a hockey ball around the OSC's astro turf, cyclists from across the Western Cape travelled to Knysna to chase lap times around the newly redesigned Xco track.

The track underwent a major overhaul last year ahead of the 2021 Western Cape Xco Championships, and enhancements have been consistently added to improve cyclists' experience of the track.

The latest changes were made in preparation for an Xco race that doubled as the third edition of both the 2022 Eden Xco Series and the 2022 Western Cape Xco Series on Saturday 23 April.

Nearly 200 cyclists entered across 16 different men's and women's categories and looked set to face some wet and muddy conditions when rain fell on Friday morning.

However, the track dried out perfectly and the practice rides on Friday afternoon helped compact the soil and layout the ideal racing lines around the track.

Oakhill teacher Ryan Habib reaches the crest of a hill.

The weather was perfect come race day with cool air wafting around the OSC thanks to overcast conditions. The day started at about 08:00 with the Sprog Girls and Nipper Boys and Nipper Girls categories.

The Elite Women and Junior Women races set off at 11:30 and the Elite Men and Junior Men at 15:00. Anna Marx won the Junior Women category while Lehane Oosthuizen was victorious in the Elite Women race.

Cronjé Beukes was the victor in the Junior Men race and Matthew Leppan won the Elite Men category.

Zandré Gerber negates one of the track's rock gardens. Photos: Blake Linder