Half-marathon aims to give Palapye athletes exposure
Lindiwe Mozola | Friday April 21, 2017 15:50
One of the marathon organisers, Moagi Rahube said the purpose of the marathon is to grow athletics, which has been lagging behind in the village while at national level, there has been significant progress.
Rahube said the race will provide exposure to athletes who otherwise do not have such platforms like their counterparts in areas like Gaborone. He said they are working with Palapye Athletics Club adding the event was sanctioned by the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA).
He said such collaborations are paramount as it gives runners a chance to be spotted by the sports bodies such as BAA and could end up representing the country at international level. Our aim is to have at least one athlete making it to the Olympics, he added.
“There is no doubt people in this village can run, but what they lack is a platform,” Rahube said. He said the other reason they organised the marathon is lack of sporting activities in Palapye. He said with the village growing at a quick rate, this can attract social ills such as illicit drugs, therefore sport is critical in keeping the youth away from such activities.
The race’s starting point will be Majestic Five hotel, then onto the A1 road heading to the new police station before turning into the village and then back to the hotel as the finishing point.
There would be other two short races, which are the 10km and 4km. He said registration for the main race is P100, P90 for the 10km race and P50 for the 4km race.
“Our aim is to cater for everyone including our elders hence the short races. In addition elders with chronic diseases such as high blood and sugar diabetes will register for free, which is our way of promoting healthy living amongst our elders and calling for their participation,” Rahube said.
The registration is ongoing at Palapye Barcelos and Endurence gym.
He added that they would also have health and wellness units from Tebelopele, Palapye health care unit and other health departments to conduct free tests and counselling.