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About 2000 athletes are expected to be in Kasane this weekend to participate in the much anticipated second edition of the FNBB Kazungula Bridge Marathon tomorrow, February 25th.
International athletes from Kenya, Zambia, South Africa and Zimbabwe will also partake in the marathon which has been categorized into four being the 5km, 10km, 21km and the 42km. Among the local athletes there will be those from the Maun BDF Athletic Club which will field eight athletes for the 10 km race.
The marathon’s marketing and sponsorship officer, Carol Kgafela told Times Sport that all is set and the marathon will tomorrow go on as planned. She revealed that registration was extended from February 11th to today (Friday) to allow for more athletes to register. Those who registered late will however not receive personalised bibs as they have already been produced.
Kgafela revealed that a total of P550 000 has been set aside for the prize money of which position one in the 42km race for both men and women will each walk away with P50 000 while those in the 21km race will win P 10 000 each. Winners of the 10km and 5km races will receive P8 000 and P3 500.00 respectively.
Kgafela further revealed that a total of P50 000 has been set aside for people living with disability and winners for both gender will walk away with P3000 each.
Meanwhile Kgafela indicated that among their partners they also has Air Botswana as their aviation partner adding that the partnership saw the airline increasing number of its flights to Kasane from today (Friday) up to Sunday to carter for marathon patrons.
The marathon was recently accredited by the World Athletics (WA) and its 5km, 10km, 21km and the 42km races are now certified after passing all criteria of the international athletics body.
“The World Athletics accredited measurer visited us last year to look at our routes and its safety for use and we were able to pass all that was available to be looked at, we are now looking forward to grow our marathon to the world,” Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the marathon, Obert Morgan told Times Sport previously.
Furthermore, Morgan revealed that the marathon’s main sponsor (FNBB) has increased the sponsorship by 50 percent, that is from P1 million to P1.5 million. He noted that the sponsor was considerate of the logistic expenses of the event hence the increase.
Other sponsors include Halfway Toyota, Kwa Nokeng, PST, Spar, Botswana Tourism Organisation (BTO), Blue Crystal Sugar, Travel Lodge, HATAB, Chobe Holdings, NAPA, Botswana Television (BTV) and Chobe Safari Lodge. With more than 11 corporate sponsors on board Morgan is confident that the marathon will be a success tomorrow. The marathon will be aired live on BTV and other media platforms.
