NORTHERN NEWS
Marakele Marathon - a race for conservation and health By Lesley Nyawo
Marakele Marathon athletes at the marathon starting point
Prize giving ceremony (Marakele National Park Manager: Mphadeni Nthangeni & Coca-Cola South Africa Manager
SANParks’ Marakele National Park hosted the 13th annual Marakele Marathon on Saturday, 5 March 2022 in partnership with SANParks Honorary Rangers, Coca-Cola South Africa and the Marakele Marathon Club. This year’s marathon was a physical event, following a virtual marathon in 2021. The 2022 marathon took into consideration COVID-19 social distancing restrictions as directed by the South African Government for outdoors events.
kicked off the Marakele marathon at 06h00. Other categories of the marathon consisted of 10, 21 and 42km run in the heart of the Waterberg mountains which is home to an impressive variety of wildlife.
A distinctive attribute of the Marakele Marathon beyond maintaining a healthy lifestyle and creating awareness on uniqueness of the park is the meaningful contribution towards conservation efforts that is realised from proceeds generated by the marathon, which confirms the SANParks vision of “a world class system of sustainable national parks reconnecting and inspiring society.” The marathon’s start and finish points were marked at the park gate. A 5km fun run, highly participated by family members of various age groups, officially
The marathon saw top achievers receive medals and prizes in various distance categories, noting top achievers as follows: OVERALL WINNER DISTANCE
COMPLETION TIME
1. Charles Soza
42km
2 hours 42 minutes 26 seconds
2. Thato Kekana
21km
1 hour 17 minutes 38 seconds
3. Noah Motimedi 10km
34 minutes 53 seconds
Celebration was the order of the day over lunch at the food garden with a variety of food and beverages representing various cultures and flavors which is ideal for social cohesion, diversity and cultural inclusion for athletes, family members who came to support them as well as nature enthusiasts in general.
conserving nature since 1926
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