Namibia long distance runners Matheus Jesaya and Mweshange Kange won this year’s Orange Phikwe National marathon this morning.
Jesaya won the main 42.2km male category clocking 2:17:13 while Kange won the women female category with a time of 2:46:56.
The duo walked away with P25 000 each.
About 2300 participants had registered for the event under four categories, 42.2km main race, 21km, 10km and 5km fun run.
Orange Botswana are the main sponsor of the marathon having injected P660 000 into the annual event for a period of 3 years.
Speaking after the race Jesaya said he was happy with his time which is his personal best this year.
He said he worked hard preparing for this race.
“I got position two at the Kazungula marathon which was my first competition in Botswana and the terrain was a bit challenging with so many curves compared to this one. The competition was tough and at some point a Zambian athlete was leading the pack. I managed to increase the pace and won,” said Jesaya
For her part, Boikhutso Bakha of BDF Athletics who was runner up in 42.2km, thanked her coach Raobene Ramoseka for his guidance.
She said her first full marathon was during the Kazungula marathon where she got position four.
“This is my second full marathon and I have always been doing 21km. My coach introduced me to 42.2km and I think so far I’ve done well. I enjoyed my race. I trained hard and followed the coach’s instructions and programme,” she said.
