Diacore marathon targets more international runners
Naledi Lemogang | Friday March 10, 2017 14:39
The organisers are targeting more than 6,000 runners including athletes from outside the borders. Makgato said registration was extended from last November to March 18 due to growing interest.
“Our principal focus this year was to attract more runners from outside our borders so we put quite an effort into external public relations where we invited runners from all over South Africa,” he said.
By the time of going to press, Makgato said he was not in a position to reveal the countries that had confirmed participation. He said they had not consolidated the full list of registrations.
The marathon has been divided into four categories being 4km, 10km, 21.1km and 42.2km. Makgato said when the registration closed last year, over 6,000 runners had put down their names and the numbers are expected to increase when the deadline arrives.
The prize money for this year has been increased compared to the previous edition (2016). The winners in the 42.2km for both men and women would pocket P50,000 each while the second prize winner takes home P20,000. The runners who finishes third will be rewarded with P15,000 each. Makgato said they have also introduced cash prizes up to the 10th position in the 42.2km race. He said the total amount to be spent on the category is P238,000.
The winners in the half marathon (21.1km) take home P10,000 while position two gets P5,000. Runners finishing between third and fifth will also receive cash prizes.
The 10km race has first position cash prize money of P5,000 for both men and women while number two receives P3,000.
There are cash prizes up to fifth position. The 42.2km defending champion Zimbabwean runner, Gilbert Mutandiro while Onneile Dintwe won last year’s women’s section.
Meanwhile, athletes who are part of Diacore Gaborone Marathon (DGM) running programme leave for Uganda for the African Cross Country Championship later this month.
The four runners who qualified for the championships are Rapula Diphoko, Sylvester Koko, Mema Tiango and Marea Maano.
Makgato said the four did exceptionally well at the just-ended cross country series, which started in Kopong in January. The cross country finals were held in Gaborone a fortnight ago.
The programme was launched in October 2016, an initiative specifically designed to train 10 of Botswana’s elite long distance runners for Tokyo 2020.
“On the road to Tokyo the athletes were to participate in both local and regional races and in a short space of time the team has produced results that have far exceeded all expectations with gold medals from Francistown to as far as Soweto,” Makgato said.