14 May 2019

Preparations for the annual Mogoditshane BDF Athletics Club marathon are underway.

The local organising committee chairperson, Alfred Phineas, said in an interview that this year’s edition scheduled for August was expected to be bigger and better compared to the inaugural one.

Furthermore, he said registration was already open, adding that they were targeting at least 2 000 participants, with the hope to attract international athletes as well.

 “We have not changed anything this year. For registration, 21km costs P200, 10km costs P100, 5km costs P75 while corporate registration costs P900. Prizes include merchandise. The routes have also not changed.”

He said in their first edition, they encountered some challenges but was hopeful of improvement this year.

“In the previous marathon, we underestimated the registration numbers as we had budgeted for less than 500 participants but ended up getting 900 registrations. 

It was a challenge because only 500 medals were available,” he said.

With regard to sponsorship, Phineas said they do not have sponsors yet, while negotiations with potential sponsors were ongoing.

 He said their wish was to have a long time sponsor as that would give them the assurance that the marathon would be held every year.

On a positive note, he said they had their members who went for a Road-Marking course adding that expectations were that the route is certified so that it could be used as an international event qualifier. Ends