SA’S SIPHAMANDLA WINS IMBUBE MARATHON

LOBAMBA – Debutant South African long- distance athlete Siphamandla Nyembe is the new Imbube Marathon winner.

Nyembe cruised to victory in the third edition of the Imbube Marathon, taking home the first prize, E25 000.  Previous double winner, Sifiso Sibandze, finished fourth this time around. Stealing the show for emaSwati was Royal Eswatini Police Service (REPS) runner Thulani Ngubane, who finished second overall, after having dominated most of the 42km from Somhlolo National Stadium to the capital city, Mbabane and back.

Nyembe, who comes from Durban, South Africa clocked 2:29:36 hours to win the gold medal. He beat Sibandze’s record time of 2:30:10 hours. He was presented with the trophy by His Majesty King Mswati III. “It was a really tough race. I had a poor start because I was warned about the Malagwane Hill and I decided to take it easy from the start. I kept the leading group right in front of me to save energy for the finish- up. It worked wonders for me as I took them on with less than 3km to the finish line,” he said.

The 28-year-old said it was a tough race and his European experience came in handy. Meanwhile, Sibandze said he realised during the course of the race that things were not going to be easy for him. “I was not well prepared for the race and I believe I have been busy focusing on my work. Congratulation to the winners. The race is open and it is now international and the standard is likely to be high. I’m happy that Nyembe had to work hard to win the race. I will go back to the drawing board and work hard,” he said.

REPS runner Ngubane took the lead from the start and he was overtaken up the Malagwane hill and he won back the lead when going down only to be left behind close to the finish line. Meanwhile, Zimbabwe’s Thabitha Tsatsa was the winner on 3:04:32 hours with the first Liswati being REPS’s Winile Mnisi on 3:09:20 hours in the female category. There were over 5 000 runners who took part in the marathon that comprised four events; being the 42km, 21km, 10km and 3.3km.

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