24 Jan 2022

Sports View Runners Club hosted a cross country competition in Moshupa on Saturday.

The competition had the 10-kilometre senior race, 8km junior as well as 6km youth races in both male and female categories.

Batungamile Zibani of Gaborone Striders Club emerged victorious in the senior men’s 10 km race, completing it in 27:47.07 minutes, followed by Sesebo Matlapeng of Lefika Runners Club with 28:07, 22 minutes, while BDF Athletics Club’s Bakang Matlho came third with 29:08:25.

Kamogelo Seboko of Moroka Athletics Club was crowned the champion of junior men eight-kilometre race, clocking 24:22:15, Sports View Runners Club’s (SVRC) Oratile Rakanye came second with 27:03, 52 minutes, while Motheo Mooki of Jwaneng Athletics Club (JAC) finished on third position with 27:06:87.

The six-kilometre youth race was won by Taelo Shashampa from Moroka Athletics Club, clocking 18:29, 84 minutes, JAC’s James Kgomothebe got position two, with 22:03:07, while Lore Losho from SVRC came third with 22:34:28.

Lesedinyana Tumelo raced to victory in the senior women’s 10-kilometre race, with 35:41, 68, followed by Bakha Boikhutso of BDF Athletics Club with 36:02, 19 minutes and Mema Tiango still from BDF finished third, clocking 37:07:15.

Junior woman, Thuto Olebeng from SVRC clocked 28:26:64 to win the eight-kilometre race, while, Tebatso Batolomi from Mmanaana Junior School finished on position in the youth girls’ six-kilometre race with 16:29:71, followed by Sharif Balebetse, with 17:32:86.

Speaking to BOPA after the event, Sports View Runners Club’s chairperson, Glody Dube, said they were happy with how their first cross country competition in Moshupa, went, adding that they were happy with the number of athletes as well as spectators.

Dube also noted that the course was also of international standard, with some athletes indicating that it was the best they ever competed on.

Dube said they were in talks with village leadership to turn the competition into an annual event.

“As you know our mandate is to promote athletics, but we cannot achieve that alone, hence the idea to involve leadership,” he said.

In future, he said they needed to involve more people, including sponsors, adding that athletes should have prizes that would motivate them to work even harder.

“The time is long gone for athletes to compete without prizes,” he said.

He appealed to potential sponsors to support athletics, as the code continued to shine and raise the national flag high in the international stage.

With their support, Dube said more people could earn a living from the sport.

“It is through these kind of events that we discover our stars, we have abundant talent and with help from the corporate world, athletics could grow to greater heights,” he said.

Saying athletics had ups and downs, Dube urged those who did not perform well, to go back to the drawing board and see where they went wrong and rectify.

For her part, Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) General Manager, Pinkie Wilson said they were happy with the event venue, as it was of international standard.

She applauded Sports View Runners Club for organising such a great event, adding that ‘the athletes performed well and BAA will keep track of a good number of them who could in future represent the country in international competitions’.

Wilson appealed to sponsors to support athletics as it had the potential to bring great results to the country, as well as enabling more athletes to earn a living from it.

She urged athletes without clubs, to find them, as that was how they could grow, adding ‘you need to have a home, where you could be assisted in training, given advice and other logistics needed to turn you into a star’. ENDS