27 Aug 2023

One of FNB Kazungula Bridge Marathon (FNB KBM) organisers had expressed his satisfaction over the dozens of runners who turned turn up for the race activation in Kazungula on Saturday.

The marathoners tackled a 10km  route starting from Halfway Toyota down slope to CTO then ascended back past the start point going up the Kazungula Bridge road and looped back to Toyota for a finish.

In an interview, FNB KBM technical director David Lebalelo said this was the first activation to be followed by other activation series in Gaborone, Francistown, Jwaneng and Maun in preparation for the upcoming marathon spectacle in February 2024.

Moreover Lebalelo indicated that this activation was not the last for Kasane/Kazungula as the hosts in order to build the momentum leading to the main event.

He highlighted that it was important for them as race oragnisers to mobilise the Chobe community to partake in the race as participants, service providers or in way that would boost the economy of the district.

For his part, Omogolo Ramoroba, one of the race enthusiasts stated that race activations gave athletes an opportunity to gauge themselves and build endurance ahead of the main event.

He said the Kazungula course was one of the best in the country as it presented variations with steep curves, up and downhill slopes that required a runner to push themselves harder.

“Kazungula is a good place for training and I believe every long distance runner should explore it to build endurance and muscles because you constantly ascend and descend here.”

Having finished on top in the activation, Ramoroba noted that he had so much fun at the front adding that the activation had hyped him up for the main event in 2024.

Lesedinyana Tumelo said the activation was a much needed training ground for Chobe athletes more so they normally struggled to run single-handedly due to wildlife roaming around.

 “Today, we were escorted by police and wildlife officers which gave us morale to push ourselves harder knowing that we were protected because we usually don’t train far as we fear animals.”

The elite runner stated that she had competed in the marathon since its inception in 2022 where she finished in position three in 42 kilometres whereas this year she tackled 21 kilometers and got position five.

The Chobe-based athlete indicated that next year, she would continue to run 21 km where she hoped to finish in podium having learnt from the past mistakes. ENDS