Lady Khama Trust struggles to secure sponsor
Calistus Kolantsho | Wednesday February 10, 2016 14:54
He said companies that they had approached complain about the decline of the economy. Run 21 marathon has been divided into three categories; five, ten and 21 kilometres. Lack of sponsorship has not affected the plans.
Ter Haar said the main aim of the marathon is to raise funds for charity. The trust has other events, which were also held on an annual basis.
He said such events are Lady Khama Diamond Derby, which would be held in May in conjunction with Gantsi Horse Endurance Relay.
The trust would also host Lady Khama family fun day, urban obstacles and President’s Cup in August. The final event of the year is the Lady Khama charitable golf cup that would be held on October 7.
“Since (our) inception in 2002, the Lady Khama Charitable Trust has assisted 40 organisations across the country and disbursed more P11 million. This year our target is to raise P100, 000. Last year, we failed to reach our target of P200, 000.
“This was due to failure to have a main sponsor for the event and only selling three of the six water stations that were available,” he said.
Ter Haar said the race is one of the fastest growing events in terms of participation.
He said in 2013, 200 runners took part and in 2014 the number increased to 498. In 2015, the number rose to 1,007 runners from the 800 that were expected.
He said this year they hope the number of the runners might shoot to anything between 1,500 and 2,000.
He said the half marathon is unlike other races in Botswana and they try to move away from the norm and bring something new for the runners each year.
Ter Haar said the Lady K Run 21 is a trail race, which means running on road and off road.
Registration fee for 5km is P50, 10km is P100 and 21.1km is P150. The 2015 beneficiaries were Bana ba Metsi School, Botswana Red Cross, Childline Botswana, Little Friends Centre, SOS Children’s Village, Sponsor a Child and The Flying Mission.
The 2016 beneficiaries would be decided at the next board meeting next month.