29 Mar 2016

The Diacore Gaborone marathon will celebrate five years in style on Sunday as 6 000 runners are set to compete. 

One of the runners will be South African celebrity, Kabelo Mabalane, a member of the famous Tkzee group who is set to run in the 10km race. 

The marathon organisers have also announced a new initiative in which the marathon will be streamed online through a sports running application (app) hosted by Codoon, a company in China. 

Thabo Makgato said the app would enable runners around the world to participate in the marathon while in the comfort of their countries. 

“We are certified partners of Codoon, so the Diacore marathon will be run online like we will be running locally,” he said. 

He stated that the app used a GPS tracking, which records distance and maps runners’ location and steps taken. 

Makgato said after recording the distance covered by runners, the app would send data to the host upon which results would display the time taken to cover a stipulated distance and that runners would be awarded a memorial medal. 

“Runners across the world will also be running with us through the innovative new platform, and this is a move that we believe will change the face of running locally and internationally,” he added. 

He said the app was the biggest platform for sports in China with over 40 million users and more than five million daily users. 

Furthermore, he said the app would enable them to set the marathon to live beyond the country’s borders.

Makgato also revealed that South African Nedbank would be sending a team of 12 elite distance runners to take part in the 42km race. 

He said the involvement of elite runners bolster competition within the race and hopefully get better times, adding that for the race to live up to international standards and be regarded as an international marathon should also improve times. 

Furthermore, Makgato also announced a new partnership with technical sponsors Brand Botswana. 

He said the sponsor would bring ATB Productions company, which would document the marathon. Ends