18 Sep 2018

The second Gaborone Mayor’s Marathon will be held at the National Stadium on Saturday.

Speaking during a press briefing on September 17, mayor Kagiso Thutlwe said they were expecting eight Ethiopian athletes and others from South Africa to compete in the marathon, adding that their main sponsor Choppies would transfer the prize money and technical allowance to a Botswana Athletics Association account in order to curb the mix up that occured last year which resulted in the failure to pay athletes on time.

He said some of the sponsors did not come on board after reports emerged that they failed to pay athletes on time.

“The companies want us to give them a report so that they can help us next year and I do not have a problem with that, it will be done,” he said.

Thutlwe said after the marathon they would come up with a report and submit it to all potential sponsors and other stakeholders.

However, the mayor said they would continue to work hard as their desire was to transform the marathon so that it could be equivalent to the London Marathon.

He said their first edition was surrounded by controversy as some of the athletes were lost during the race, adding that this year the route would be marked.

Thutlwe said the 42km, 10km and fun race would use the same route as last year, and that only the 10km race would have a new route.

He added that they had also included the Sport Volunteers Movement to help them guides who could show athletes the route.

BAA president, Thari Mooketsi said his association did not have a problem with the marathon provided athletes and technical officers were paid their allowances, or it was deposited into the associations account before September 22.

He said if they had endorsed the marathon all the times clocked could be sent to the IAAF for record keeping, and that they could be used as qualifiers for international marathons.

On other issues, Mooketsi said they would be hosting the IAAF president Lord Sebastian Coe in November.

He added that they would update him about the mayor’s marathon as one of their achievements in athletics.

Botswana National Olympic Committee chief executive officer, Tuelo Serufho said his organisation welcomed any sport development.

“But having said that we also want to ensure that things are done in a manner that will be expected as a community and as a nation,” said Serufho.

He added that the commitment they made to the mayor was that they were available to assist to ensure that the event was delivered to the standard expected. ENDS