LOBAMBA – Royal Eswatini Police Services (REPS) athletes dominated the 2026 edition of the Resolution Run, where the ladies 21km category had two podium finishes.
The first event on the Athletics Eswatini (AE) 2026 calendar was held at the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary near Lobamba yesterday.
Crossing the line first was Nongcebo Mathabela, where she was off by 10 minutes from her initial target of running the 21km in 01:30:00. She finished the race in 01:41:00, where she attributed the race as an alright race.
“The race was alright, the only times I faced challenges was when I was going over muddy areas. In terms of preparations, I couldn’t prepare at all because it has been raining every single day,” she said.
She stated that it was by the grace of God that she won yesterday, while touching on her targeted time for this year’s events.
“My target for this race wasn’t really much because it was my first time running the 21km. Then for the year, I am looking at 01:30:00, but when I timed myself, I finished in 01:42:00,” she added.
In second place in the category was Gugu Mthembu of the Umbutfo Eswatini Defence Force (UEDF), coming short to pole position by two minutes. She attributed the first race of the year as tough yet enjoyable for her.
“It was tough, but I enjoyed it to be honest. Training for the race was minimal as you know we are coming from the December holidays and I opted for this race to be a way of starting my training,” she said.
Meanwhile, third-placed Samkelisiwe Thwala of REPS shared she had a good race, the route was well marked and prepped as it was not slippery compared to what she had anticipated with the constant rains.
“It was a good race, it wasn’t as slippery as one would have thought, but I have to say that you must respect the mud, in some areas, you have to walk to avoid injuries,” she said.
Thwala further shared that she saw that her competitors, Mathabela and Mthembu took off at the start but managed to catch up with Mthembu towards the last few kilometres but it was not enough to see her through to a silver medal.
On the other hand, in the men’s category, it was Manqoba Nhlabatsi who was the 21km champion in the category, finishing the category in 01:15:00.
“This is a race I enjoyed. I am just grateful that the training I did was sufficient for the race. My target this year is to step down from the 42km to the 21km because I feel like I have lost a bit of confidence in the 42km, that is why I have chosen to step down,” remarked Nhlabatsi.
Nogcebo Mathabela (3rd R) was the 21km champion ,while Samkelisiwe Thwala (L), managed to get third place. In the males category, the 21km was won by Manqoba Nhlabatsi and Ncamiso Hlatjwako came in second.