24 Jul 2022

Namibians dominated this year’s Orange Phikwe Marathon, winning the 42.2km male and female races on Saturday.

Matheus Jesaya and his female colleague, Indileni Mweshamekange, pocketed P25 000 after winning the 42.2km races.

Jesaya, who also scooped position two in the FNB Kazungula Bridge Marathon early this year, clocked 2:17:25 whilst Mweshamekange clocked 2:46:56 to win the Phikwe marathon.

 “It was a tough race and I faced a stiff competition, but patience, perseverance and ability to go an extra mile made me victorious,” said Jesaya.

He also attributed the victory to his coach who insisted on vigorous preparations for this race, adding he was looking forward to participating in next year’s marathon.

For her part, Mweshamekange said she was participating in the tough and challenging marathon for the first time.

She was over the moon to have performed well.

The second runner-ups in the male and female categories Boikhutso Baka from BDF Athletics Club and Lyno Muchena from Kenya respectively walked away with P15 000 each.

In the 21.1 km race, Sila Kiptoo from Kenya and Gaone Bathoen from BDF emerged victorious pocketing P7 500 in the process.

Bathoen expressed delight for winning the race after suffering an injury, which took her out of the tracks for four years.

Bathoen, who scooped first position in the FNB Kazungula bridge marathon in February under the 10 km race, explained that it was her first time to run a 21.1 km race.

“I am used to running 10km, but after my Kazungula marathon victory, I went out of my comfort zone race for the first time of which I emerged victorious”, said Gaone.

Kiptoo said he got to learn about the marathon from his Kenyan friend who participated in the 2019 event.

He said this motivated him to also participate in the marathon as a build up for other international marathons.

Having come to an abrupt halt due to COVID-19, Orange Phikwe Marathon, which has a reputation of attracting runners from around the world, attracted thousands of local and international runners who braved the winter cold to sweat it out for prize money. Ends