MELUSI LUKHELE LEADS ZITHANDE 13-MEMBER COMRADES TEAM

MBABANE – A total of 13 athletes from Zithande Athletics Club will be competing in this year’s edition of the Comrades Marathon in South Africa.

Melusi Lukhele became the first liSwati to finish the marathon last year and is expected to lead the team mid-year at one of the world’s biggest marathons.
The yearly marathon is one of the biggest and oldest South African events, pulling in athletes from all over the world and it is a 90km run between cities which may differ each year.

Usually, the marathon is staged from Pietermaritzburg to Durban in Kwazulu-Natal (KZN). 
Zithande club athletes to compete at the marathon include three females and 10 males.

The females are Mandisa Nhlabatsi, Bethusile Simelane and Tenele Maziya. Whereas the males include Lukhele, Kwenzokuhle Thomo, the captain Samkeliso Nxumalo, Muntu Almeida, Sibusiso Dlamini, Sizwe Mabuza, Dumisani Thwala, Mduduzi Mabila, Blessing Kunene and Zipho Dube.

According to Zithande coach Nsizwa Thwala, organisers of the South Africa marathon had decided to increase the fees for this edition despite the fact that Africans paid the same amount as South Africans to participate.

“The next edition of the Comrades Marathon is too expensive, it is 300 per cent more than we paid for the previous edition,” said Thwala.
Athletes had to pay E1 500 to participate in this year’s Comrades Marathon.
These are athletes who are not South African citizens and they include emaSwati.

In the previous edition, emaSwati only paid E360, equivalent to the amount paid by their South African counterparts.
“Seven emaSwati came back with silver medals last year and five of the seven athletes were from Zithande,” said Thwala.

The coach explained that those in the top 10 received gold medals and those who finished below 7 hours 30 minutes were awarded silver medals.

“This shows that we have raised the flag of the country by producing top runners who compete at an international level,” he said.
Thwala said they wished for more to go to the marathon but could not send them due to financial constraints.

   

 
 


 

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