24 Apr 2023

The city of Francistown has what it takes to host big events, says Vice President Slumber Tsogwane.

He said this at the second Botswana Telecommunications Corporation (BTC) Francistown Marathon over the weekend.

He said the second city was becoming a destination for conferencing and sporting activities.

He explained that hosting an event like the BTC marathon was a clear sign that the city was capable of hosting even bigger events if given a chance.

Tsogwane, who officiated at the start of the various categories of races that include the 42.2km, 21.1km, and 10km, explained that sport was good for health.

“Marathons are the type of exercise that is colloquially known as cardiovascular activity and has many positive health benefits,” he added.  

He said the most important benefits found in people who regularly took part in physical activities were reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases.

He thanked BTC for embarking on a wellness drive through sport.

He said this year’s marathon was unique because it had participants with disabilities, adding that such indeed attested that ‘disability is not inability’

Francistown mayor, Godisang Radisigo, said the city prides itself as the hub of commerce and industry in the northern part of Botswana.

He said the city further provided a linkage with some of the SADC countries such as Zimbabwe, Namibia and Zambia.

Furthermore, he said Francistown was geographically placed to enhance socio-economic development of the SADC region.

The mayor said events such as the BTC marathon had some economic impact on the city because the business community, especially the informal sector benefitted.

Meanwhile, the 42.1 km category race was won by South Africa’s Folavio Sehohle clocking 2:19:00 followed by Andrew Kiprop of Kenya with 2:19:49. Third position went to Lyno Muchena of Zimbabwe who clocked 2:20:00.

The trio bagged P35 000, P25 000 and P15 000 respectively on top of the gold, silver and bronze medals.

In an interview, Folavio said he prepared for the marathon very well after hearing it from social media.

He said he participated in four races in the past: Kgosi Malope II half marathon in Kanye, the 2022 Botswana Defence Force (BDF) Mogoditshane half marathon and the University of Botswana (UB) half marathon.

The 42 km female category was won by Patience Murowe of Zimbabwe clocking 2:49:00, Bieta Naigambu of Namibia came second with a time of 2:50:17, whilst Sheilah Saina of Kenya came third at 2:51:17. The three athletes also won themselves P35 000, P25 000 and P15 000 respectively.

Murowe, who could not hide her excitement, saying  she was delighted that she had improved on her time.

“I feel so great but it came with hard work,” she said. The annual event drew athletes from Botswana, Zimbabwe, Kenya, South Africa and Namibia. ENDS