24 Jan 2016

The national cross country qualifiers curtain fell on Saturday as BDF’s Shepherd Kenatshele won the 10km senior men race in Kopong.

The weekend meet was the last of the three series that served as qualifiers for national championships billed for February 13.

Kenatshele was in his own league on the day as he went for the kill from the first 2km lap where he wrestled for the lead against Lefika Athletics Club’s Kaelo Mosalagae and BDF’s Godiraone Nthomphe.

He looked more spirited than the rest as he sped up and disappeared into the thick bushes and it was not surprising that he arrived alone in the 4km mark.

It would seem he was running a different race from the others as the gap between him and the next person was huge.Unlike the rest, he appeared to gain momentum with every lap as the gap increased.

Kenatshele wrapped up his 10km in 30:16:21 while Mosalagae came second in 31:21:51 and Nthomphe at 31:59:48.

After the outstanding performance from Kenatshele, one would expect to see more of him at the national championships.

However, he disclosed that he would not be participating, saying “athletes welfare is taken for granted when they compete outside the country.”

He explained that hospitality was demorilising when they compete with athletes from other countries who come fully fledged in competing attire while they have to provide such for themselves.

The disgruntled Kenatshele said he only took part in the cross country for fun and passion, adding that over the years he had travelled with the national team and they were not treated well, and that was why he decided not to compete in the national competition.

The athlete said there was a lot of potential in Botswana’s long distance runners, however, noting that the problem was when they had to travel to international competitions on a bus which causes fatigue.

However, he highlighted that all was not lost because he would only be competing in local races which he said would give him more time to rest.

BAA vice president, Glody Dube defended the association, saying the cross country was run during the first quarter of the year when the association was short of funds and hence some of the requests and needs would not be fulfilled.

Dube admitted that for a long time the BAA had not been able to host a camp for athletes to prepare for international races due to shortage of funds.

He highlighted that whenever athletes travelled within the SADC region, the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) recommended that they use a bus for transport.

Nevertheless, he stated that they were impressed with the times clocked by athletes during the qualifiers, adding that they expected fireworks at the finals.

In the 10km senior women category, Gaborone Runners Club’s trio Onkemetse Solotate, Matshidiso Tamari and Akuje Zongwane were number one, two and three with 41:48:24, 44:45:09 and 47:88:09 respectively.

In the junior boys, BDF’s Nico Modiko was position one in 26:36:49 whereas Jwaneng Athletics Club’s Keone Moreeng and Kealeboga Kgalemang came second and third at 27:34: 03 and 27:54:24 respectively.

The junior girls category was won by Masego Nkgwang of BDF clocking 26:27:34 while UB’s Gorata Mphinyane finished second in 26:44:18. Ends