The Day it All Began
Established in September 1978
Bedfordview Country Club (or Kensington Polytechnic as it was known) was founded in 1925, when a meeting was held at the Rhodes Park Tearoom and a decision was made to form a Sports Club. The club remained at Rhodes Park until 1957, when the Jo’burg council decided that Kensington Polytechnic would have to change their name to Rhodes Park Sports Club. The die-hard club members did not approve and decided to move to the present ground, which had been vacated by Old Parks. The club went through the name changes, Marists-Polys, Bedfordview-Polys, until in the mid-seventies it was decided to call it Bedfordview Country Club. To many sportsmen and woman, the club will always be known as Polys. (The hockey was known as Kensington Polys, the cricketers as Marist Polys. Arthur Hall had the vision to unite all as Bedfordview CC and was instrumental in getting the Council to underwrite the whole venture and take an active part in maintaining the facilities. The council paid the staff and groundsmen who all became Council employees.
BCC was a multi-faceted sports club featuring about 12 different sports which were played either in summer or winter, or all year round – tennis; bowls; badminton; squash; men and woman’s hockey; senior and junior soccer; cricket; senior and junior baseball and softball. Each of the sections mentioned had their own committees, which were elected to coincide with their particular season’s activity, and the club itself had an Executive committee, which was responsible for the overall running of the club and the playing fields and bowling greens. Sectional Chairmen met monthly to report back to the club on the past months activities and future competitions.
One evening after soccer/hockey training, while cooling off with a cold beer, and talking about the upcoming prospects for the Comrades Marathon, and discussions about whom, if anybody, posed a threat to the great Alan Robb. This led to the question being asked – ‘why don’t we start a running section at the club’.
At this stage there were a couple of members running for Germiston Callies Harriers, and they decided to investigate the matter to see what the requirements were for starting our own running club. They approached Callies for advice and were referred to the Transvaal Road Runners Association. TRRA said that they needed to sign up 20 members as runners and to make an application to them, where it would be considered. TRRA approval was needed to be able to compete in official events like the Comrades. It was only after this that we were required to buy a licence and therefore benefit from the insurance cover, which came with it.
Only 3 or 4 active runners were available, so 20 seemed like a big ask. However, the same soccer/hockey players cooling off after training with cold beers a few weeks later did not think that this was a problem, as they would all sign up as runners. These people(from memory), were Audrey Krynie; Mike Jefferies; Neville Kruger; Johnny Neilsen; Neil Alexander; Rupert Scott; Doug McClymont; Judy Haley; Scotty Steele etc. (Jack Quail was a former mayor of Bedfordview and we also had Councillor Julius Civin- after whom Civin Drive is named – running for us at about this time but not a founder member.)
And so the number required by TRRA was easily filled. Our application was duly submitted and we were asked to attend a TRRA meeting at the Wanderers Club to meet the committee and tell them what our intentions were. (There was an objection from Mike Hay (Chairman of Spring’s Striders), who thought it was not necessary to have another running club on the East Rand. (A few BCC members thereafter boycotted the Strider’s race).
We were duly accepted and were asked to put in an application to stage a road race. We applied for a marathon early in the year and a half marathon about August or September. We were allocated a 21km in January and a 10km race in August.
The ATHLETICS SECTION was established in September 1978.
The Comrades and Two Oceans Marathon
In 1979 only 2 BCC members ran – Jack Quail and Johnny Neilson and finished in 9h26.
Bedfordview Country Club had eight entrants in the Comrades Marathon, boasting a one hundred percent finishing record. First Polly’s runner home was Neil Alexander who ran his best Comrades in 7h18, and was the only member of the local contingent to win a silver medal. One of the best Bedfordview efforts was by novice runner Clem Lilley, who clocked in at 7h59, a fine first run in the 90km marathon. Sixth and Seventh Bedfordview runners to finish, Derek Parker and Doug Thirlwell deserve a mention for determination. Despite being injured in training for the big day, Derek ran 10h21 to collect his bronze medal. Doug, who missed the 11 hour cut-off by only 30 seconds the previous year, came back full of fight to finish in 10h40, this time to win his coveted Comrades medal. Keith Ball was the third Pollys’ man to finish in his fourth marathon while Hymie Dinner and Johnny Neilson completed the race in under 9 hours.
The Comrades and Two Oceans Marathon
In 1979 only 2 BCC members ran – Jack Quail and Johnny Neilson and finished in 9h26.
Bedfordview Country Club had eight entrants in the Comrades Marathon, boasting a one hundred percent finishing record. First Polly’s runner home was Neil Alexander who ran his best Comrades in 7h18, and was the only member of the local contingent to win a silver medal. One of the best Bedfordview efforts was by novice runner Clem Lilley, who clocked in at 7h59, a fine first run in the 90km marathon. Sixth and Seventh Bedfordview runners to finish, Derek Parker and Doug Thirlwell deserve a mention for determination. Despite being injured in training for the big day, Derek ran 10h21 to collect his bronze medal. Doug, who missed the 11 hour cut-off by only 30 seconds the previous year, came back full of fight to finish in 10h40, this time to win his coveted Comrades medal. Keith Ball was the third Pollys’ man to finish in his fourth marathon while Hymie Dinner and Johnny Neilson completed the race in under 9 hours.
In 1981 – 18 BCC runners took part. 1st man home was Neil Alexander. 1st novice runner was Peter Naude. Some of the other runners who took part were Keith Ball, Johnny Neilson, Alan Armstrong, Johnny Swarts, Derek Parker, M.O., and Mike Hemans.
Over the years there have been many good and some not so good performances with lots of stories to tell.
Seriously, you wore that?
The official colours of BCC are Oxford and Cambridge Blue.
The 1st vest was light blue with the horse emblem on the front and Bedfordview CC
The horse had to be removed because Modderfontein Golf Club also had the same logo although their base was red while ours was yellow. Modderfontein appealed to the Heraldic Society who controlled ‘coats of arms’, badges etc and they ruled in favour of Modderfontein who had been using the logo since the 1930s.
The horse was then dropped and the vest was light blue with BEDFORDVIEW on the front & back. (poor horse)
In 1996 it was decided to ‘modernize’ the vest and it became Navy with ‘Bedfordview’ in small letters made into a design on the vest.
In 2010 a whole new kit was implemented, navy vests, with white writing, shorts, cycling shorts etc.
Running Bee
Before the days of electronic communication, in order to communicate with members one had to literally ‘cut & paste’, photocopy, fold into envelopes and go off to the Post Office, and the member would get the news a week or two later.
The first newsletter was called the ‘Running Bee’, and was dispatched monthly to members.
In the 21st Century it is so much easier and news is dispatched via email or sms, quickly and efficiently.
Journey to the best 21km in the country
We were allocated a 21km in January and a 10km in August.
We were clueless and had no knowledge about what was required to organise a road race, so we once again approached Callies to get some advice. Amongst the challenges were sponsorship, getting permission from the club and other sections to use the fields for the Saturday and Sunday, Council and Traffic Department permission to use the roads etc.
As a new section the running club had no funds, so had to get involved in fundraising. A disco was arranged at the club to raise money to be able to pay for all the pre-race requirements. Tickets were printed and a social organiser was appointed, who was responsible for selling tickets, arranging a disco and collecting and banking the cash. This enabled us to start paying our bills before any entry fees or sponsorship monies were collected. The hall was filled on disco night, a few raffles were run, a wonderful evening was had, and some funds were raised.
Rob and Penny Oliver were appointed to be our timing officials; they were given stop watches and taken to a race at Callies Immelman Stadium. They were placed near the finish and told to get practice by timing the Callies race. Callies race organisers were asked about their method of setting up the start and finish and why the preference was to taking entries on the day as opposed to pre-entries.
Clem Lilley designed control sheets, which were used at each meeting where we could plot the progress of outstanding items for the race and people were appointed who would take care of for example the entries, start, finish, timing, water points etc. (All things which these days are mundane).
It was then calculated how many people would be required to man all the water points, marshalling, start, finish and nearly had heart attacks, when it was seen how many people we would need.
The 21km race was designed to be over two laps to save personnel at water points and marshalling points. (This remained a two lap course for many years until some of the so called elite athletes were caught cheating by only running one lap and then rejoining the race for the last km and hoping to collect prize money.)
At this point we called on the mens and ladies hockey players as well as cousins, brothers and sisters and work colleagues to assist us. The hockey players helped at the start from 4:30 am and then had to leave to play their games, often starting at 8:30 at away venues because we were using the field. We in turn used to help them when they hosted hockey tournaments with arduous tasks like manning the bar for the day and during the evening when a disco was held. This often ended in the early hours of the morning – such a sacrifice.
In order to get press coverage for the race it was important to get the big names to run our race. We invited athletes like Sonja Laxton, Allan Robb, Johnny Halberstadt, Ernest Seleke, Mathews Botswadi. Most of the top athletes in the then Transvaal were professionals who ran for mines like ERPM, Western Areas Gold Mines. Seleki for example achieved Springbok colours for track, cross country and marathon. For them to run at our event, we gave free entry to the whole team. They would arrive in the mine bus with their managers, coaches, et al. Johnny Halberstadt, being a native Bedfordview resident, after returning to SA from his athletic scholarship in America, also offered to help us promote our races by meeting with the press and having photos taken in sponsors t-shirts.
The 1st 10km race organised by BCC was in August 1980 – sponsored by Alpha Office Supplies. (Only once). This was then sponsored by Lyndhurst Toyota which was owned by Doug McClymont who was one of our running stalwarts.
1st Lady home was Sonja Laxton (who ran for Wanderers at that time) in a time of 35min2 sec.
1st Man home was Johnny Halberstadt (who also ran for Wanderers) in a time of 31min17sec.
The 1st 21km race organised by BCC was in February 1981 – sponsored by Pro-Car and Bedfordview Insurance Brokers. (700 entries)
1st Lady home was Sonja Laxton in a time of 84min 15 sec.
1st Man home was Johnny Halberstadt in a time of 67min 1 sec
2nd Man home was Matthews Batswadi in 67min 15 sec and 3rd was Mark Plaaitjies in 67min 26sec.
Western Deep levels took the team trophy. Alan Robb came 45th – recovering after knee surgery.
Immediately after these races we would go to Mary Howorth’s office to type up the 700 results and then join the other club members at Giloolys Farm for a braai. The results would be photostated on Monday and a work party would then assemble in the hall on Monday night to fold and put into envelopes to be posted on Tuesday morning – most runners got their results before they ran their next race.
race
In 1982 Bliss Dairies came on board, and sponsored the 21km race, which went from strength to strength.
(Round about this time Kelloggs and FNB sponsored company relays. This resulted in a massive growth of road runners. Kelloggs started at JCE and ended at Springs Old Boys Club. FNB had many different starting places and several finishes including Turffontein Race course and Megawatt Park.)
bliss
The field grew to such an extent that the race had to move to Eastgate shopping centre. Parking had become a major problem around the club at that time as we were not permitted to park on the fields and all the open stands in the area had been developed. During that year 1988, there was a record field of 5000 runners. There were no pre-entries and all entries were taken on the morning of the race. That was a very memorable race – Piet Bezuidenhout was the Chairman at that time. All runners were given a little ‘running man’ trophy, but there had been a bit of an ‘error’ in the order and some of the trophy’s arrived without the bronzing, so were little plastic men, which caused a lot of unhappiness with many runners who had come from far and wide to get this trophy. The marquee which had been hired for the race was left in the parking after the race, and disappeared over night. A bit of a costly mistake.
(R18000.00 and it was only insured until the race had finished when the guards were also allowed to go home. The thinking was that once all the equipment had been removed after the race – tables chairs lanes poles etc it was not necessary to insure the marquee because of its size.)
In 1991 the main club signed a deal with Health & Racquet club and in 1992 the race was brought back to the club.
In 1993 Bliss Dairies sponsorship came to an end Bliss was bought out by Barlow’s Group and absorbed into its own brands and disappeared)
Reebok came on board from 1993 To 2000.
DISCHEM, who are still the current sponsors in 2010 started sponsoring the race in 2000.
From small beginnings the race has grown into a very professional and well organised event on the road running calendar. (Ranked in top 3 in SA)
Club runs, time trials and a few pints
In the 80’s and early 90’s time trials were held every Wednesday evening, followed by a ‘club night’. The 1st Time Trial started on the field, a run around the field, around the block, back onto the field, that was 4km and then twice for 8km. It was then changed to start in Harper Road and then moved to its current route starting in Chester Road.
There were not the organised runs, which now take place in the mornings, rather runners used to get into various groups and run either in the morning or evenings. Sunday runs were always social occasions and often continued back at the clubhouse well into Sunday night.
The clubhouse was an old barn, and many an hour was spent there drinking a few Castles and discussing racing tactics. The ‘beer garden’ was a favourite after Sunday runs and there was always a ‘run-in’ with the bowlers who did not like the guys sitting there without shirts on.
Change is as good as a holiday
The club signed a lease with Health & Racquet Club and in 1991 the gym was opened on the premises. At that time many members were unhappy with the change and wanted to move the running club. The Chairman at that time was John La Porte (1989). A meeting of Athletics members was held at VLC club, where there was a unanimous vote to continue with the running club at the Bedfordview site. This caused a split in the club and some members left and formed the Old Marist running club. (This did not last too long and those members then joined the new Fit2000 running club.) An interim committee was formed of Gavin Duffy (Chairman); Anne Pratt (Secretary) Neil Bosch (deceased), Geoff Weller (race organiser). The club survived another crisis and continued with business as usual.
In 2000 Virgin Active took over the l.ase from Health & Racquet (who had gone into liquidation), but the Athletics Club continued to flourish.
Life was less complicated and there were no heart rate monitors, special supplements, diets etc. but there were still many fine performances.
The club may have changed over the years to keep up with the times, but what has always remained at BCC is the camaraderie and friendships which have formed.
BCC milestones
‘MILESTONE: The 1st BCC member to get a silver medal at Comrades was Neil Alexander in 1980
‘MILESTONE’: Barry Dingle – 1ST BCC runner to get a double green (20) Comrades
Anne Pratt – 1st Lady BCC runner to get a Comrades green number (1995)
‘MILESTONE’: Mike de la Rey – 1st BCC runner to run under 7 hours @ Comrades
Mike de la Rey joined BCC in December 1981
Best time 6hrs 59min 56 sec (1984) 1st Novice from the club.
‘MILESTONE’ Mike De la Rey acquired 10 silver medals in 10 runs.
7th person to run 10 silvers in 10 runs. 5th person to run 10 silvers in 10 consecutive years
Best time 3hrs 47 min 45 sec (1986) Best overall position 111th and veteran position 9th (1989)
1st novice from the club (1983).
Further outstanding performances from de la Rey. Best marathon (1989) 2hrs 46min 5 sec
Best 32km (1990 Springs Striders) 2hrs 1min 15 sec
Best 8km time trial – Bedfordview 1984 – 27min 52 sec.
‘MILESTONE’: 1st BCC Lady to get a silver medal at Comrades was Michelle Kellock in 2011
On the 29th May 2011 Michelle crossed the finish from Durban to Pietermaritzburg in a time of 07h27:28,
finishing 2nd in age category 40-49 and 18th woman overall
‘HIGH MILEAGE STORIES’
GREEK MARATHON 1986
A group of 27 runners and supporters (wives, girlfriends, hockey members) from BCC led by tour leader Barry Dingle went on a memorable journey to Greece to run the Greek Marathon, which is run on the original Marathon route.
After the Marathon was run, the group went ‘Island Hopping’ and much fun, sun and ouzo was had by all.
Special thanks to Niel Alexander, Barry Dingle and Anne Pratt for digging way back into their grey matter and compiling the club’s history.
The information has been recorded as accurately as their memories would allow.