Very proud moments for Mpumeleo Mhlongo (Finningley 2012) when three months after having his PhD proposal accepted on converting recycled plastic to diesel, he is setting world records on the athletic field breaking his own world records in the 100m and Long Jump at the 2019 World Para Athletics Championships in Dubai. Mpumelelo leapt a massive 7.07m to set a new world record in the T44 men’s long jump on his last jump to narrowly beat T64 German (Felix Streng) out of the medal positions, who had a jump of 7.06m. This is two days after breaking his own 100m world record in the 100m heats, only to do it again in the T64 100m finals and claim a silver medal, as the only T44 athlete to make a T64 100m sprint final. The 25 year old, who finished fourth at the London 2017 World Championships, is the first in his class to go beyond seven metres this year and looks to be first in his class that will break the 11 second barrier.”
Mpumelelo matriculated with seven distinctions in 2012 and was Head of Finningley and Head of Choir. He speaks six languages and is a five time Sportsperson of the Year at the University of Cape Town
Congratulations to Dr Murray Polkinghorne (Gillingham 2011) who recently earned his MPhil with distinction from Cambridge University, coming first in his class. He has subsequently joined Oxford University on the prestigious Radcliffe Department of Medicine Scholarship, where he will be reading for this DPhil in Medical Sciences at Balliol College.
Murray matriculated from Kearsney with eight distinctions and went on to study medicine at the University of Cape Town, where he graduated cum lande. After completing a research fellowship at the Mayo Clinc in the USA, Murray was awarded a scholarship to Cambridge to do an MPhil.
While still at Kearsney Murray was head of Choir and won gold with the choir at the World Choir Games in Shaoxing in China. Murray is a fourth generation Polkinghorne to go through Kearsney, where his great-grandfather, Lawrence Trevenen, was one of the founding pupils in 1921. Murray’s father, David (Gillingham, 1981) was awarded the Major Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford University in 1986.
