Athletes flood Diacore meet
Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday November 6, 2014 10:59
The marathon spokesperson, Thabo Makgato told Mmegi Sport yesterday that registration was started in August and ended in October.
He explained that they decided to open registration early this time around because they wanted to give themselves enough time to prepare for the event especially when it comes to the t-shirts sizes.
“In the past we worked on guess work and that was nor proper. Some runners did not have correct sizes,” he said.
He said another registration would be held in January for more runners who will still have interest in the race.
He pointed out that they have had some enquiries from many people who are interested in participating in the race hence the need to have another registration.
Makgato pointed out that some runners who have registered are from Denmark, Lesotho and Namibia.
“There is a runner from South Africa who will be running for the first time.
It is interesting that his country has big races such as Comrades, Two Oceans and Soweto. But he decided to join us.
“The event has grown over the years and we are looking at more runners from across the globe. The last marathon we had athletes from as far as England and Cuba,” said Makgato.
With prize money of P50, 000 for the winners in both men and women sections of the marathon this year, the race is one of the biggest in the country.
The race served as a qualifier for the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games as well as the 2014 Comrades Marathon in South Africa.
The race is affiliated to the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA).
The organisers revealed that they managed to raise P651, 000 during the 2014 edition of the race and the money will be distributed accordingly to charity while 15 recipients will benefit from the funds.