Boitekanelo marathon goes ahead despite freezing weather
Calistus Kolantsho | Tuesday May 24, 2022 03:55
The usual suspects, Sylvester Koko and Sesebo Matlapeng dominated the men’s 10km and 15km categories respectively. Koko cruised in the 10km stopping the clock at 30 minutes. He was followed by Sonny Bakang Matlho who brought home 31:18 and Montshiwa Raokwathe was third with a time of 33:32.
Matlapeng was in his element registering a convincing 47 minutes in the 15km. He was followed by Lopang Oontse who clocked 48:54 and Godiraone Nthompe finished third in 49 minutes.
The women’s 15km was claimed by Kitsiso Joseph with a time of 57:53. Mantshapelo Badumetse crossed the finish line in the second position to register a time of 1:00:77. Boikhutso Bakha was in third position with a time of 1:01:21. Gaone Bathoen found it easy to beat Mema Tiango to claim the 10km race with a time of 36:32 while Tiango registered 37:45. Kelebogile Bile finished third on a time of 41:17.
Speaking to Sport Monitor, Koko said the race was good and the route was smooth because of the straight route.
“The route was straight, which was a first for us to find a well marked route. The markers did a good job. The challenge was the cold weather. I did not want to run faster because I was using this race as preparation for the bigger race, Diacore Gaborone Marathon coming up soon. I know that is where I should go all out because foreign runners normally give us a run for our money,” he said.
Koko said he was running with people that he trains with all the time and he simply used his experience. He also said when running a simple race, there is no need to put more effort. He stated that unfortunately, this year he will not be running the Orange Phikwe marathon because he will be running a Mile in South Africa.
“It will be the second time for me to run a Mile. I first did it in Namibia. I must work hard because normally the winning time is 3:55 and I currently have 4:05,” he said.
For his part, Boitekanelo College managing director, Dr Tiro Mampane told Sport Monitor that the event was a charity race and they were raising funds for an underprivileged person in Tlokweng.
“From the funds that we have raised we have built them a two bedroom house. The family was staying in a difficult situation so we felt as part of our celebration, we should do something for them. We had 1,300 runners taking part in the race but our target was 1,000. We received a lot of interest in the last week,” he said.
Mampane said as their slogan goes, they wanted to change lives and someone will sleep in a comfortable place. He explained that the prize money was not a lot because most of it was invested in the project. He said the winner of 15km won P15,000, P10,000 for second position and P7,500 for third position. The 10km race attracted P5,000 for the winner, P2,500 for second position and P1,500 for third spot.