The race organiser, Mbakiso Mawila, revealed to SportMonitor that 4, 100 runners had registered for the marathon, which is an increase from the first edition held last year. He also said some registrations that came after the deadline were rejected in order to manage the numbers. He said it is a good thing to have more numbers but also risky to have numbers that cannot be managed. “The event went well despite the challenge we had with rack pack collection. Some of the runners came for collection on the day of the event, which made things difficult for us, instead of focusing on the event, we now had to deal with collections.
That is something we wanted to avoid, hence setting a deadline which was a few days before the event. It is a lesson learnt and must be avoided in the next race,” he said. Mawila said they have partnered with Pro Time Sport Botswana for the next three years to do data management and confirmations. He said the partnership is expected to manage the race park situation effectively as Pro Time has experience with many marathons. “Moving forward, we have realised that the marathon needs a bigger venue as the demand for the product grows. We should be able to cater for bigger numbers that we are getting. We even have runners coming from outside our borders.
Look, this is a unique marathon, people get a chance to run along Gaborone streets without worrying about the heat,” he said.The marathon was held under the theme ‘Ending violence’ with a special focus on gender based violence (GBV). The event was being used to raise awareness and support those affected by GBV with a goal of making a positive impact in the society. Meanwhile, after the race, it was announced that Gran Thornton team are the winners of the Run Gabz by Night Biggest Loser Challenge. The challenge was all about losing weight. Teams comprised 10 members, who supported each other in the quest to lose weight.
Results:
21km Men: 1. Ebel Chibanda (1:05.18) 2. Sesebo Matlapeng (1:07.16) 3. Glady Kiptoo (1:10.03)
Women: 1. Kefilwe Galeitsewe (1:19.02) 2. Jerop Abigael (1: 26.42) 3. Nancy Madzima (1:33.26)
Men 10km: 1. Montshiwa Raokgwathile (31:33) 2. Sylvester Koko (32:37) 3. Caven Goitlogetswe (34:01)
Women: 1. Mosadikwena Gotswakgosi (36:22) 2. Lame Nare (39:13) 3. Botlhe Mazuduma (41:51)
