06 Jun 2022

For the first time since 2019, the Diacore Gaborone Marathon registered a record-breaking 12 000 runners on Saturday.

Thousands of runners showed determination and hunger after the marathon was halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

In an interview, Diacore Marathon administration officer, Tshepiso Baipidi, said this year’s theme was centred on gender based violence and  the First Lady Neo Masisi also ran for this great course.

Baipidi said they had a registration pool of over 11 000 runners, but they surpassed that total.

She underlined that in 2019 they had 8 100 participants, and they were glad to surpass this mark.

In his debut, Munyaradzi Jari of Zimbabwe registered victory in 2:16:09 in men’s 42.2km category, whereas Ottilie Aimwata scooped first position with a time of 3:01:55 for women.

Among other winners, Othusitse Dilelo got position one in 21km with 2:43:31, while Sesebo Matlapeng won the 21.1km with 1:05:59, whereas, the 10km was scooped by Montshiwa Raokgwathile registering 30:12.

Baipidi said the overall winners for the 42.2km race won P10 000, P6 000 for 21.1km and P5 000 for 10km.

She said second and third positions from all categories were also awarded.

“All the registration proceeds will go charity and part of it will sponsor the campaign via a selected partner who is yet to be announced,” she said.

She said they found it best to adopt the theme in a view to sensitiee the public about the implications of GBV.

Baipidi said for the past eight years, the Diacore Gaborone Marathon supported communities and development projects such as the national long-distance running team development programme which, for the past three years supported 11 of the country’s fastest long-distance runners with accommodation, food, supplements, transport, races registration coaching and management.

She said the development programme started in 2016 and had an annual budget of P400 000 and the renovation of Notwane Squash Club at P400 000.

Moreover, she indicated that in partnership with Wilderness Safaris, they sponsored the children in the Wilderness Sports Day project initiated in 2018 and invested over P300 000 to cover the sports day throughout 15 primary schools in rural areas across Botswana.

She said for the initiative to implement OrCam Technology in Mochudi Rehabilitation Centre for the Blind which started in 2018, DGM purchased two smart devices, which enabled children to read via finger point technology.

Notably, Baipidi said this marathon employed 20 people for a week every year. BOPA