Reiniera Cornax

Johanna Reiniera Gast-Cornax in sources commonly reffered to as R. Cornax (20 October 1900 — 22 September 2003) was a Dutch track and field athlete representing athletics club G.S.V.. She was active between 1921 and 1924. She also played korfball with Rozenburg.

Athletics

Cornax was a main Dutch athlete in the early 1920s when athletics became an established sport for women. The first women events at the Dutch national championships were at the 1921 Dutch Athletics Championships. With her club G.S.V. she finished second in the first ever women’s Dutch championships event, the women’s 4x 100 metres relay.

At the 1922 Dutch Athletics Championships she won the bronze medal in the 80 metres event, behind Van den Blankenvoort and A. de Bock. Later in 1922, on 27 August, the first Dutch international women’s 100 metres event was held at the 1922 Pro Patria women's international athletics competition. Cornax was one of the four Dutch athletes. She was in the 100 metres the best Dutch woman beating Annie van de Blankevoort and finished second behind the German Margarete Furchheim. In the relay event she won together with Annie van de Blankevoort, A. de Bock and C. Buijs from the German team.

One of her earliest competition was in May 1921 in a South Holland women’s competition. She was the best of her club GSV in all events, but was beaten by women of the Rozenburg athletics club. In 1922 she won national competitions in Brielle and Delft, with her 80 metres victory in the newspaper described as “well deserved”. She won prizes in many regional and national women’s athletic competitions and championships in 1921, 1922 and 1923.

One of her last athletics achievement was in July 1924, winning a competition in Dordrecht.

Korfball

Cornax continued to play korfball with Rozenburg. In 1924 she played with the club internationally. She continued playing after her marriage but moved to the third team of Rozenburg in 1931. When Rozenburg celebrated their 25th birthday in 1938, Cornax was named as one of the main korfball players of the club.

Cornax was born on 20 October 1900 in Rotterdam as the daughter of Willem Frederik Cornax and Magdalena van Wolfswinkel.Cornax married to Jan de Gast in Rotterdam on 22 May 1929. After het husband died, De Gast-Cornax died at the age of almost 103 years old on 22 September 2003 in Hengelo.