06 Nov 2022

Kenyans; Sheilah Saina (27) and Peter Limo (28) have won the inaugural Boteti marathon in the women and men’s 21km categories, respectively.

The race, held in Letlhakane on Saturday, was Saina’s third in Botswana and saw her clock 01:11:17.

She started running in Botswana by participating in this year’s edition of the Orange Selebi Phikwe marathon in July were she was disqualified after getting lost and pursuing a wrong route.However, in October 29 she won the Maun marathon dubbed Run Maun.

Her compatriot, Limo clocked 01:02:16 to win the men’s category; the win being his second having also won the Run Maun event.

Limo was impressed with the potential of Botswana’s long distance runners and was convinced that should the country develop world-class training facilities and programmes, the amount of talent that would come out of it would be astounding.

In the 10km category, Botswana’s duo of Boikhutso Bakha and Montshiwa Raokgwathile came out tops in the women and men’s categories respectively.Assistant Minister of Health and also Boteti East MP, Sethomo Lelatisitswe, hailed the event as a success, adding the turnout of athletes was impressive.

He said the minor logistics hiccups encountered would be a thing of the past when the half-marathon returns next year.

Lelatisitswe said events such as marathons were key in helping to encourage healthy lifestyles particularly in this era where non-communicable diseases had adopted an upward trajectory.

The organiser, Lesedi Mosheti, a Letlhakane youth, said in an interview that the objective of the marathon was to raise funds for orphaned children as well as to raise awareness on gender based violence (GBV).

He expressed contentment at the turnout of athletes, saying the participation of athletes from other countries had lent the marathon some credibility and had also laid bare its potential to grow bigger.

He said four Kenyans, three Zimbabweans and a South African had turned up for the marathon to add on to scores of runners from across the country.

Regarding prize money, Mosheti said winners in the 21km each pocketed P3 500, while those from the 10km category walked away with P2 500. ENDS