Prizes galore in the Limpopo Heritage Half-Marathon

Good times await athletes in the Vhembe region who have been starved of major long-distance races for a long time.

This follows the recent launch of the Limpopo Heritage Half-Marathon when it was announced that runners will have a choice to run in the 21,1km half-marathon, a 10km road race and a 5km fun run.

The event, which will start at 06:00, takes place on 14 September, starting from Thavhani Mall in Thohoyandou and back.

The Limpopo Heritage Half-Marathon has partnered with Thulamela Municipality, Thavhani Mall, MMK Insurance and Bics Engineering. During the launch that took place at the Thohoyandou Library Auditorium, sponsors dangled lucrative prizes that range from R2 000 to R15 000. One of the organizers and chairman of Limpopo Heritage, Mr Fhatuwani Oscar Mulaudzi, said the idea was to revive athletics in the region.

He said this region has produced many well-known names such as Martin Nduvheni, Bethuel Netshifhefhe and Jane Mudau, among others, but most had given up because of challenges in the sport.

“We are on a mission to revive athletics in this area. We have found out that there are many big marathons taking place in other parts of the country, but there is no marathon affiliated to ASA in Vhembe. The Limpopo Heritage Marathon will be an annual event and we feel we have a good start. With appetizing prizes that have never be heard of in this area, the event is set to grow, and we are expecting thousands of runners for this event,” said Mulaudzi.

He further indicated that they planned to revive the famous Land of Legends Marathon, which used to draw many runners from across the country.

Thulamela’s acting mayor, Cllr Livhuwani Maduse, said the municipality fully supported the initiative and thanked the organizers for having come up with such an initiative. “We encourage our people to take part in this event as it will not only boost them economically, but will also improve their health,” Maduse said.

Thohoyandou Athletics Club’s coach, Mr Andrew Mavhona, could not hide his joy. “This is like a dream come true. We have been waiting for so long for such an event and we commend the vision holder and the sponsors who contributed to this event and we are hopeful that the event will go from strength to strength as an annual event,” he said.

Registration will be at Thavhani Mall entrance 1. For more information, the contact person is Mr Andrew Mavhona at 079 648 6411.

Date:29 August 2019

By: Elmon Tshikhudo

Elmon Tshikhudo started off as a photographer. He developed an interest in writing and started submitting articles to local as well as national publications. He became part of the Limpopo Mirror family in 2005 and was a permanent part of the news team until 2019.

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