07 Aug 2023

Over 300 walkers took the strenuous journey atop Peleng Hill during the fourth edition of the annual Lobatse Mountain Walk on Saturday.

Established in 2018 as a collaborative event between Lobatse-based women’s football team, Zodiac Collabo Girls and Lobatse Town Council, the primary objective of the mountain walk was to raise funds for the Zodiac Collabo Girls and explore the beauty of the Peleng Hill.

Walkers commenced their journey at the Extension Gunners ground and started climbing the hill from the steep side in Peleng West.

They went on a steady steep climb to the top where they could see the magnificent Peleng Dam, and also have full aerial view of the town.

Once they had reached the top, they started a steady decent which carried them down to the east of the hill in Peleng east, before they went back to the Gunners ground.

Some walkers covered five kilometres while others covered 10 kilometres depending on the route they took on the hill.

Lobatse Mountain Walk marketing manager, Poloko Mosarwa said the event was both a fundraising for
Zodiac Collabo Girls and also intended to promote heritage sites in the town.

“Lobatse is a mountainous town and has a lot to see. There are heritage sites that one could see.

One can see buildings of first radio station and that promotes our town,” she said in an interview after the walk.

She added that the event was intended to promote physical fitness.

She added that the event had grown in leaps and bounds.

She said they had approximately 150 participants in 2018 and the figure was more than 300 this year. She said they wanted to see the event attracting over 1 000 participants in future.

“We have also seen encouraging support from different stakeholders. We have stakeholders like Flo Tek who support us every year.

Blue Crystal was the major sponsor of this event. They made it possible and we really thank them,” she said.

Mosarwa further said other entities such as running group Fearless, Lobatse Town Council and GABZ FM also supported the event.

She said they targeted raising as much as P1 million for the Zodiac Collabo Girls through the event.

Zodiac Collabo Girls treasure Andrew Osman said funds raised from the event would be spent on the daily running of the club. Osman further said the funds would be used to assist the players with their needs.

“The whole aim is to continue building the women’s club. We also want to play a role in promoting Lobatse.

Lobatse is the first capital of this country and there is so much history here. Nelson Mandela came here, we have the museum of Samora Machel.

We saw the Peleng Dam this morning which is also a heritage site,” he said.

Osman said they were satisfied with growth of the Collabo Girls team which recently won the Southern Region Football Association women’s league.

“As you can see, we are number one in the region. It shows a lot of focus.

There is a lot of progress. Our hope is to retain the league next season,” he said.

Woodhall Ward councillor, Thebe Baile commended organisers for a successful event.

Baile said the event was taken to another level this year with many people joining the walk.

He however said they believed that the event could grow further in the future.

He also commended the Zodiac Collabo Girls for empowering the girl child in their community.

“I can assure them that Lobatse Town Council will continue supporting them in the initiatives like this one.

I encourage the business sector to support them to continue developing our community,” he said.

He further said the walk provided many opportunities of cultural heritage tourism in Lobatse.

He encouraged Lobatse residents to support the event in the future. ENDS