29 Jan 2019

University of Botswana athletics club will on tomorrow host a classic showdown race at the UB Stadium to officially open  the track and field calendar.

Athletes will compete in different track events amongst them, 150m, 300m, 600m and 1 000m as well as only high jump and long jump in the field events.

Spectators will surely be entertained in the 600m men’s race, which would line up some elite athletes in the likes of Isaac Makwala, Onkabetse Nkobolo, Pako Seribe, Gorata Gabankitse and Boitumelo Masilo.

Oarabile Babolayi will return to track after a long time in the 300m women and will face Christine Botlogetswe, Leungo Matlhaku, and Goitseone Seleka.

UB athletics coach, Justice Dipeba said in an interview that they were staging something different given that it would be the first time athletes would be competing in events that were mostly hosted in Europe.

“I know people are used to 100m, 200m and 400m, but this time we came up with something different, more so that it will be a season opener,” he said.

Dipeba said the event was also meant to give all athletes the opportunity to gauge their speed and endurance.

Athletes, he said had been training since September last year, adding that the classic showdown would give athletes opportunity to measure as to how far they could go and where they should correct.

Further, he said Makwala would compete in the 600m because he was coming back from rehabilitation and they did not want to do anything explosive.

“He is not more of an endurance runner. We want to take it easy and do something slow so that he can control the pace. The 300m is an explosive event so it is not good for an athlete who is coming back from rehabilitation,” he said.

Dipeba said the event was the first of its kind, therefore people should come in large numbers, and also important as it would be used to see if athletes could match Glody Dube and Carlifonia Molefhe’s time, which they ran in Europe in the same events.

The event starts at 5pm at an entrance fee of P10. ENDS