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SWAZI COOLERS PARTNERS WITH TZD MARATHON

16/03/2023 08:43:00 Melusi Mkhabela

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MBABANE – It promises to be bigger and better.

That is the Lubombo Marathon that is being presented by TZD Sports. It takes centre stage on Saturday April 1, 2023 at Siteki.
Beverages company Swazi Coolers is the latest partner for the festivities. The company will provide refreshments for all water stations at the event. “We have a long working relationship with Athletics Eswatini (AE) and TZD, there has been a number of races that we’ve done together. It was very good, so we wanted to do it again,” said Thandokuhle Dlamini who represented Swazi Coolers.TZD has also partnered with the likes of George Investments, MulaSport and Dixie’s International, to name but a few. TZD Director Zakhele Dlamini, on the other hand, mentioned that the budget for the event stood at E100 000 and that included the prize money, medals and trophies.

Accommodation

With the event starting so early in the day, accommodation is one of the things athletes will be on the lookout for. “We have athletes coming in from South Africa and Mozambique who are already fully registered; some of the athletes have made their bookings for accommodation around Siteki town,” he said. There are goodie bags for the first 500 athletes to register. Athletes are advised to register as early as possible. The marathon is divided into three distances; namely 42km, 21.1km and 10km. They all have the same registration fee of E150. However, if you are a non-licence holder, then you pay an additional fee of E30 to provide you with a temporary licence. All professional runners are supposed to have licensing from EA.
“Fortunately enough, most runners that represent a club have licences and their clubs are able to subscribe for them every year,” mentioned Dlamini during an interview. Athletes will assemble at Siteki Sports Ground, where allocated buses will transport them to their different starting points. The 42km race will commence first at 5:30am. It will be followed by the 21.1km and 10km at 6:00am.

There is an added incentive, as there is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. One local athlete will win a ticket to attend the June 2023 Palau International Marathon in Taiwan. However, the athlete needs to be within the qualifying time. The 42km men qualifying time is 2 hours 20 minutes. The 42km female qualifying time is 2hours 55 minutes. The 21.1km men and female qualifying times are 1:05 and 1:25 hours, in that order. The Siteki Hotel was approached for a special rate for the athletes taking part in the event. “As of now we are still waiting for them to get back to us with the special rate figures,” mentioned Dlamini. For more information, would be participants can contact the organisers on 7604 8762/ 7902 0673/ 7671 2410 or email: tzd673@gmail.com.