12 Jun 2022

The third edition of BDF Athletics Club Half Marathon is set for August 28 in Gaborone amidst lack of sponsorship. 

With anticipation of about 1 500 runners, registration commenced on May 1 and is expected to end July 31 to enable athletes to register well on time.  

The local organising committee chairperson, Alfred Phinias said despite sponsorship drought, preparations were going smoothly.

“Generally we are confident that by the end of July we will be more than ready to host our marathon.”

Phinias said the marathon would be divided into three categories of 21.1 kilometres which is the main event, 10 kilometres and five kilometres, which he said was a fun run. 

He said they also had a category for people with disabilities.

The LOC chairperson said Namibia had already confirmed their participation in this year’s edition.

“Namibians have participated in the last two editions of our half Marathon, [therefore, we are confident that they are going to show up]” Phinias said, adding that the half marathon was sanctioned by Botswana Athletics Association (BAA), who would also be providing officials for the marathon.

He said the club’s aim was to see the half marathon grow in leaps and bounds as that would help it to be acknowledged by World Athletics and ultimately be used as a qualifier for World Half Marathon.

“For our marathon to be recognised, we need to satisfy the mother body’s requirements. 

For now our route is accredited and we have the certificate, but still feel that our route does not have enough shoulder for runners, but we will correct that,” he said.

BDF half marathon sponsorship manager, Gerald Bashingi said one of the main challenge bedevilling the club was the fact that COVID -19 statistics were on the rise. 

Given that they have been partnering with insurance companies, he was worried that they might find it taxing to sponsor them, as they would be still assessing the situation.

“Most of the companies are still uncertain about what is going to happen. 

Insurance companies have been helping us, now with numbers rising, their focus would be shifted to covering their clients, and as such they are likely to halt the sponsorship,” he said.

However, Bashingi said some of the companies they had been working with had shown interest in continueing with them, though the contribution would be less than the usual amount. Ends