PTAR Gala Dinner and Awards Ceremony

By Garth Calitz

After a long afternoon of waiting to find out who did what in this year's Presidents' Trophy Air Race, the Gala Dinner finally arrived. The formal function was held at the Boesies, which is located on the Lake Umuzi campus, which is a stone's throw from the Secunda Airfield.

Tarry and Iaan Myburgh, the dynamic couple who were the driving force behind the 2026 PTAR, were forced out of their comfort zone completely when the regular MC, David le Roux, had to attend to a family emergency, leaving them to pick up the pieces and MC the formal event. I must say they did an exemplary job, well done.

The evening was kicked off with some fun prizes for some entertaining behaviour by contestants who reached the judging team. That was followed by a talk by Des Warden, Chief Pilot of Lift Airlines. Des was rather disappointed as his Beecraft Bonanza's engine overall, brought on by the 12-year rule, was not completed in time to take part in this year's race. Des was there to represent Lift Airline as they sponsored some of the top three finishers' prizes. Christof le Grange spoke on behalf of the host club, Secunda Flying Club, thanking all the members who went above and beyond to make this a very successful event.

Rob Jonkers then took us on a trip down memory lane, with a very brief explanation of the President's Trophy Air Race's nine-decade history. Over the years, there have been some amazing highlights and, unfortunately, some very sad lowpoints as well.

Returning competitors are the lifeblood of PTAR. Milestones of 10 and 20 years were celebrated by a few of this year's contestants.

After a scrumptious helping of Butternut soup, it was time to get down to the business end of the night. The best woman in the race award went to Adrienne Visser, and the youngest contestant prize went to the 24-year-old Paul Haakenstad.

The DJA Airmanship Award was awarded to John and Judy Lehman for deciding to avoid the creation of an unsafe situation when they found themselves off track; they decided to return to base rather than attempt to rejoin in front of chasing aircraft. Every year, an award is given to the first novice team to complete the race. This year, that honour belonged to Kevin Cloete and Rehan van Tonder.

The Kassie Kasselman Trophy for the best performing Parent and Child team belonged to the father and son team of Theodor and Frans Boshoff, who unfortunately could not make the event. The veteran PTAR pilot, John Sayers, donated a trophy for the first-place turbo-charged aircraft this year, which was won by Leon Bouttell and Rob Jonkers. The fastest team award, which has been dominated by Dieter Bock in his Lancair Legacy for the past few years, finally found a new home and was awarded to Johan v Zyl and Eric Addison, who flew in an RV-7.

The best manufacturer Awards for the best performing Vans RV, Piper, Cessna and Beechcraft went to Johan van Zyl and Eric Addison, Henning Ellis and Lukas Eksteen, Jackie Schouten and Werner Steenkamp and the father and son team of Theodor and Frans Boshoff, respectively.

Mossel Bay Flying Club performed exceptionally well and was awarded the Best Club Award, an honour they have achieved in the past.

The beautiful country of South Africa is divided into three distinct areas for the next series of trophies: The Northern Provinces (Limpopo, North West and Mpumalanga). The Interior Provinces (Free State and Gauteng). Coastal Provinces (Northern Cape, Western Cape, Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal). An award is presented to the best-performing team from each region, Henning Ellis and Lukas Eksteen from The Northern Provinces. From the Interior Provinces, Leon Bouttell and Rob Jonkers cleaned up. The Best Coastal Provinces Crew were Johan van Zyl and Eric Addison.

At this point, the organisers decided to prolong the agony by serving the main course before announcing the winners. Everyone gobbled down their very tasty dinner in an attempt to hurry things along. Finally, Iaan took to the podium to announce third, second and first place winners.

In third place was RACE 16 in their Evektor Harmony - Leon Bouttell and Rob Jonkers.

In Second place (once again) in their North America T-6 Harvard was John Sayers and Dion Raath, RACE 45

And our winners of the 2026 Presidents' Trophy Air Race was RACE 24 Henning Ellis and Lukas Eksteen in their Piper Cherokee 235

Well done, guys, you have just joined a very exclusive club.

We hope to see you all next year. We are not yet sure where, as the customary handover of the flag never took place, but wherever it is held its sure to be a great one.