17 Sep 2015

Itse Magheba Tours hosted Diretse Tough and Dirty Time Challenge mud race aimed at diversifying the  economy and building team work at Bonnington farms in Gaborone over the weekend.

The event, which is the first of its kind, entails a mini marathon and military obstacles with trenches and mini mud hills.There were two teams made up of both men and women.

The catch was for the team members to work together to overcome the obstacles. First, the competitors had to run around for a distance of 5 kilometres before they made it back to the farm, and the team that collectively overcome the obstacles and finish first becomes the winner.

The event pulled a fair attendance, considering that it was new.   It was much fun for the spectators, as they watched off from the side-lines while men and women puffed off the rails and submerged in mud terrace.

Speaking at the two day event, Gaborone district coordinator at the Ministry of Youth Sport and Culture (MYSC), Jacob Sekgoni announced a sponsorship of P67  000 for the event.

“MYSC has found it most appropriate to fund this initiative through the MYSC grants, for promoting and ensuring that Batswana are aware of the benefits of participating in sports and recreation,” he said.

He said the activity promotes the culture of exercise and physical recreation which reduces chances of sickness leaving the mind free to be innovative and creative instead of worrying about diseases.

“It has become apparent that most of us live sedentary lifestyle, we spend most times either in offices or watching television. This has resulted in increased incidences of poor health with more people being obese,” said Sekgoni.

He also said non-communicable diseases such as diabetes, hypertension and cardiac complications are entirely avoidable. Sekgoni commended the organisers for coming up with such an event stating that the activity would not only promote physical and mental health, but would go a long way in promoting tourism in Gaborone.

“The venue, Bonnington silos has a lot of historical significance to the origin of Gaborone,” he said adding that the creativity demonstrated by the organisers should be applauded.

The ministry, he added, supports every initiative by young people that demonstrates creativity and innovation as well as potential to create jobs.

During the first day, about 19 teams battled it out to qualify for top ten, on day two, the top ten teams that qualified were chosen, only one team Pula Power in absentia.

A team made up of men, all in black attire, who left on third position during the first round, overtook all the teams that left ahead of them and in 53 minutes they had completed their task.

Tough Men Heroes team were eventually crowned the winners of the debut of Diretse Tough and Dirty Time Challenge 2015. They received P3 500 cash prize. Delta force and Monna o kae got position two and three respectively.

They walked away with P2 500 and P1 500 cash prize. The event organiser, Tebogo Kgaodi said, “a lot of people asked me questions when I came up with the concept, but I guess it always comes to how I look at things.”

Kgaodi said he was happy with the turn up, adding that the event was successful, and it showed that Batswana were willing to try new things.

He said such activities and projects would contribute towards the diversification of the economy and also help to improve team work amongst employees. ENDS