UCT sports stars glitter at awards

South Africa's top-ranked men's foil fencer, Jacques Viljoen, is UCT's 2011 Sportsperson of the Year, winning the coveted Jamison Cup for the second time. The final-year fine arts student won the same award in 2009, a trajectory that's seen him bag the national tournament title for the past three years, an unprecedented feat.

Race ace: Ryan Sandes presents the Turpin Cup for Service to UCT sport to the Students' Representative Council's Kim Senogles.	Oar-some: The Club of the Year award was presented by Sindy Tu to Brendan Gliddon of the Rowing Club.

Viljoen was one of many UCT students who were féted at the annual Sports Awards dinner on Friday, 21 October, at the Cape Sun.

The Fencing Men's First Team also won the Butterworth Cup for team of the year.

The Landstem Trophy for performance of the year was shared between the Rowing men's First VIII and the Mountain & Ski Expedition. Both have had stand-out seasons.

The men's first crew won the eights race at the University Sport South Africa (USSA) Sprints and was top university team at all sprint regattas throughout the year. The Mountain & Ski Club led an expedition to Chandra-Bagah 13A in the Indian Himalayas to learn valuable snow and ice mountaineering skills they could transfer to their members for future expeditions.

Guest speaker at the awards dinner was alumnus and adventure racing 'poster boy' Ryan Sandes, whose résumé includes wins in all 4 Deserts events - the only person to have done so. Sandes' built his success (he started running when he was a student after the 2006 Knysna Marathon proved to be his only ticket to the Oyster Festival) on the central philosophy of "one grain of sand at a time".

The awards ceremony also provided an opportunity to bid farewell to John Donald, manager of Sport & Recreation, after more than two decades of service to sport at the university. Donald was unable to attend the awards but chairperson of the UCT Sports Council, Professor Mike Meadows, said: "John, you look way too young to be retiring: no doubt this is so because of your lifetime of active and healthy involvement in sport. Good luck and be sure to stay in touch with UCT sport as it goes from strength to strength in the years to come."

Other awards made on the night:

Club of the Year: Rowing
Transformation Trophy: Hockey
Turpin Cup (Service to UCT Sport): Kim Senogles, Students' Representative Council
Best First-Year: Ricky Schroeder (rugby)