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December is upon us and what a year 2024 has been. The end of the year is always a time to reflect on the past 12 months, when we also tend to make promises (that we inevitably don’t keep) about what we are going to do, or not do, over the next 12 months, but for now, let's look back at 2024 …
In May, South Africa went to the polls in what is considered to be a watershed election as the ANC lost its majority and a GNU was formed. Whether you were happy or not with the outcome of the election, what was clear is that democracy is still working in South Africa. Speaking of elections, Donald Trump was voted in for a second term and whether you love or hate him (those seem to be the only options), you have to admit the next four years looks likely to be a wild ride.
But that's enough about politics, let's move on to more important things … like sport!
In South Africa’s major sports, our national teams have all performed well and there are a few individual stars as well.
Rassie, Siya and their Springbok mates have continued to deliver by winning the Rugby Championship and then going unbeaten on their end of year tour to the UK (sorry, not sorry to all the Irish fans who have to settle for No 2).
The Proteas men's and women's sides both reached the final of their respective World T20 tournaments, but that elusive title still evades them. However, the men are currently top of the World Test Championships standings and looking good for a place in the final at Lords next year.
Bafana are on a roll and ended the year undefeated and have earned their place at the African Cup of Nations tournament next year, as did 2022 champions Banyana Banyana.
However, the big sports story of the year was the Olympics and there are plenty of "Faster, Higher, Stronger" stories to celebrate, but there were also a few unusual "heroes", including: the pole vaulter who “won at life but lost the competition" (and if you do not know what that refers to, Google Anthony Ammirati); an Australian who may just have broken break dancing; and the 51-year-old, nonchalant, hand-in-pocket Turkish pistol-shooting medalist that made the rest of the Olympic athletes look way to serious.
For South Africa, there were six medals from Paris. Swimmer Tatjana Smith was the star with a gold and a silver before retiring from swimming, while javelin thrower Jo-Ane van Dyk and the men's 4×100 relay team earned silver for track and field, and the men's sevens rugby side and mountain biker Alan Hatherly grabbed bronze.
At the Paralympics, Team SA also won six medals: Mpumelelo Mhlongo (athletics 100m) and Simone Kruger (athletics discus) won gold; and Louzanne Coetzee (athletics 1500m), Mpumelelo Mhlongo (athletics 200m), Donald Ramphadi and Lucas Sithole (tennis doubles), and Pieter du Preez (cycling time trial) all won bronze.
The Blitzbokke underlined their Paris success with a boisterous end-of-year victory in the final tournament of the year in Cape Town.
Hatherly went on to become both South Africa's first XCO World Cup and World Championship winner. These highlights were tempered by Greg Minnaar, the world's most successful downhill mountain biker, announcing his retirement.
Elsewhere, Kira Bester claimed the women's world surfski title in Portugal, Dricus du Plessis became South Africa's first UFC mixed martial arts World Champion and Brad Cox was crowned the World Rally2 Champion at the World Rally-Raid Championship in Morocco.
Locally, we are finally seeing a return to pre-Covid levels at many "smaller" events and the major attractions, such as the Cape Town Cycle Tour, Two Oceans Marathon, Comrades Marathon and Midmar Mile, continue to attract massive numbers – providing a perfect opportunity for some ambitious New Year resolutions … bring on 2025.
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After the fraught Covid years when the event industry was in danger of collapsing, 2024 has been an exciting year for FinishTime as we have bounced back and are busier than we have ever been.
We are extremely proud to have timed the Cape Town Cycle Tour with 35 000 cyclists taking part in the world's largest individually timed cycle race, the Comrades Marathon with more than 18 000 competitors with multiple timing points over almost 90 kms, the Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon with a total of 27 000 runners over two days, and the Midmar Mile where we timed more than 14 000 swimmers in eight different events.
With that being said, we consider our smaller events equally important, which in some cases means timing less than 100 competitors. Regardless of the size of the event, FinishTime always strives to deliver accurate results as quickly as possible after each entrant has crossed the line.
Striving to always to be at the forefront of technology, means FinishTime have also developed some exciting new innovations which have come online this year. We have now completed an integration with Whatsapp and have introduced a Whatsapp service. This is not just a replacement for SMSs, but is an interactive platform with many exciting features.
We also introduced RaceCheck Reviews, where participants can rate the race and comment on the good and bad, with links from the event’s results page. This will provide key feedback to potential entrants regarding the standard of the event, while also helping race organisers know what they are doing well and where they need to improve.
So, as we head off for the end-of-year festivities, all that’s left is for the FinishTime team to wish all of you out there a happy, safe and restful festive season, and we are looking forward to seeing you at some of our many events in 2025.
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