Publications
Partners
With four weeks before the Comrades Marathon, athletes who wish to qualify for the popular KwaZulu-Natal ultra-race should better head to Bloemfontein, Free State, this weekend.
The inaugural Lemo Mall Mangaung Marathon in the Free State capital on Saturday will present the final chance for those who are still chasing the required times to enter Comrades or simply bidding to improve their seeding.
To qualify for the Durban to Pietermaritzburg (up-run race), athletes are required to run at least one qualifying race between 1 September 2023 and 6 May 2024.
For other runners like 2022 Comrades top-10 finisher Nkosikhona Mhlakwana, the Mangaung Marathon will serve as a training race.
In fact, the 30-year-old Mhlakwana, of Hollywoodbets Athletics Club, is also doubling as the ambassador to promote the inaugural race on Saturday.
Apart from the 42.2km main race, the event also offers distance in the 21.1km, 10km and 5km fun runs.
According to race director Teboho Lemao, there is more to the event, over and above the Mangaung Marathon being a Comrades qualifying race.
Lemao told City Press:
The now retired Yawa won the Berlin Marathon in 1993. He also represented South Africa at the 1992 and 1996 Olympic Games.
Lemao said the Mangaung Marathon came to being after the successful staging of 5km and 10km races during the Lemo Fest, a cultural festival extravaganza that was staged in Heidedal, last year.
READ: Downs get Fifa Club World Cup ticket, thanks in part to Percy Tau
The marathon is a collaboration between the Lemo Mall and Centre City Titanium Athletics Club, with the Free State government also contributing a portion of the race prize money.
Lemao said the success staging of the 5km and 10km races in October last year, prompted the community to request for more races to be organised in the township.
In terms of its legacy projects, Lemao said the Mangaung Marathon has reached out to Athletics Free State to collaborate in the development of aspiring long distance runners from disadvantaged local schools.
The race on Saturday will also rope in some of the school kids as race marshals who will be paid stipends for being part of the project.
The Mangaung Marathon organisers have also initiated a drive to collect used running shoes from those who are willing to donate.
The items will be distributed to deserving local clubs at the end of the campaign.
"We’ll have a bin at the expo on Friday for those who are willing to donate," said Lemao.
Apart from the running itself, Lemao said the Saturday event is also used to revitalise the township economy.
READ: SA Athletics Champs wrap | Look who's got tickets to the Paris Olympics
Online entries close on 30 April while manual registration is open until Thursday, 2 May.
Visit www.lemomarathon.co.za for more information on the race.
