23 Mar 2015

The annual Diacore Gaborone Marathon has marked growth, despite the local marathon runners’ poor show during the annual race held in Gaborone on Sunday March 22.

This year’s race garnered about 5600 runners, the highest since the inception of the race.

Despite its growth, local runners’ poor performance in races became apparent as most of the race categories were dominated by foreign runners.

Botswana quenched their thirst for medal when Godiraone Nthompe finished second in men’s 21km. The lad won P5 000 cash reserved for the first local sponsored by Stanbic Bank.

Nthompe had started the race well, but slacked along the way due to stomach pain.  He seconded Zimbabwean Nampala Leonard who led the pack.

Namibia came third. Meanwhile Zimbabwean Gilbert Mutandirwa walked away with the Diacore 42.2km title seconded by Namibian runners in position two and three respectively.

BDF’s Mema Tiango came second in women’s 21km while Zimbabwean Samukeliso Moyo scooped the top spot.

Tiango’s victory comes just weeks after she was crowned the Lady Khama charity race and it seems the youngster is determined to secure her spot in the national team that will represent the country at this year’s world championships.

Namibian Annah Amukoko repeated her team mates’ winning feature by being crowned the queen of the course in women’s 42.2km. Amukoko, made her intentions known from on-set as she led most part of the race.

The DGM co-founder Thola Magang said they were happy about the outcome of the race and said the DGM is a unique race in Southern Africa, and said 100 percent of the registration money goes to charity.

“We want to make a difference in the lives of Batswana.”

He said although it is used as a yardstick for World championships, they are encouraged to see more locals taking part in the race.

He said they are proud to have Diacore on board as they have taken the meet seriously, and said they have put international exposure to make the race a showcase that can stand out to the world.

He said the involvement of other sponsors too such as Mascom, Botho College, GIA and Stanbic has contributed immensely to the growth.

Concerning local athletes’ poor performance the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) secretary general said that most of their runners did not participate and attributed that to the recent Be Mobile race held in Francistown.

Legojane Kebaitse said they stress that athletes should take three months break after each competition and said failure to do such has side effects on the athlete.

He said although some athletes are sometimes desperate to make money from the races, they always show them on the dangers of doing such as it strains one’s body.  

“The Francistown race happened so fast and that somehow affected the already scheduled races such as Diacore Marathon.”

He said presently he believes that most of their athletes are preparing for the Bosele marathon, taking place in Selebi Phikwe around July. 

The official said that this is an international practice   and said even when an athlete intends to compete outside the country, the association has to clear the person but if one has competed within the specified period they are supposed not to allow the runner.

The race proceeds will be used for charitable organization yet to be identified. Last year sponsors’ were asked to nominate the beneficiary of their choice. ENDS