Dintwe dominates Soweto marathon

Calistus Kolantsho | Thursday November 10, 2016 15:27

 Dintwe told Mmegi Sport yesterday that she has been preparing to conquer the Soweto marathon since beginning of the year.

“I remember telling my former coach, Adam Letham that I wanted to win this marathon, I could see he was doubtful. Despite that he advised me to work hard. I am over the moon with my achievement,” she said.

Dintwe said she competed with runners from South Africa and she knew it was not going to be an easy fight. She said she knew her strength was hill climbing and that is where she out paced her opponents.  She said the win has given her and Botswana exposure.

Another local runner, Mema Tiango finished in position four. Tiango told Mmegi Sport that the course was tough and that she was making her debut at the race.“I could have done better if I had enough training, especially going up the hill. We also did not have enough time to rest because we arrived on Saturday and the race was on Sunday,” she said.

Despite that, Tiango said she intends to work hard and return a better runner next year. She said ahead of the marathon, she competed in the Lucara Independence Half Marathon and Botswana Greatest Marathon as part of preparations.

Another runner, Rapula Diphoko finished seventh in the men’s race. He said the position was not bad considering the state of the course. He said with more than 10,000 runners in the 21km category, finishing seventh is a big achievement. “If we had done proper training, all the local runners could have got podium finishes. This is a lesson for us moving forward,” he said.

The three runners are part of the Diacore Athletes Development Programme. The programme representative, Keamogetse Kgomela said the programme assists athletes with training, nutritional support and accommodation. She said the aim of the programme is to develop long distance runners in the country.  Some of the companies that are sponsoring the programme are Diacore Gaborone Marathon, Mascom, Stanbic Bank and Sefalana.

 Meanwhile, Kgomela announced that registration for the 2017 Diacore Gaborone Marathon is open and closing date is November 26, 2016. The marathon is scheduled for May 7, 2017. “We urge people to register early so that we can have enough time to carry out logistics. It is also important to have many participants because we need funds for the Diacore programme,” she said.