Athletics

Daniel Nghipandulwa was Namibia’s best performer on the opening day of the 17th African Senior Athletics Championships in Nairobi, Kenya on Wednesday.

Nghipandulwa finished fourth in Heat Three of the 800m in a time of 1:52:12 to to qualify for the semifinals which will be held on Thursday afternoon.

Nghipandulwa has been drawn in ther first 800m semifinal, alongside South Africa’s 800m world champion, Mbulauni Mulaudzi, who set the fastest time in the heats of 1:43,58.

Namibia’s sprinters did not do too well on the opening day.

Luketz Swartbooi showed his younger opponents a clean pair of heels to win the second leg of the Old Mutual Victory Races in Swakopmund on Saturday. The race also served as the National Half Marathon Championships and drew Namibia’s top marathon athletes. The 44-year-old Swartbooi was in a class of his own as he won the 21km event in a time of 1:03:54. Johannes Naitembu finished more than 400m behind in second place, while Erich Goeieman finished a further 200m behind in third place. Vilho Paulus finished fourth and Robert Kaxuxuena fifth.

The first SPAR Challenge in Namibia will be held on July 31 at the Hage Geingob Stadium.

The marathon will be over 5km and 10km and the entrance fee for the participants will be N$50. The entrants can either walk or run the distances. The Quinton Steel Botes Cancer Fund will receive N$5 from each entry in addition to any other money made from the event.

Race organiser Quinton Steel Botes urged people to take part in the marathon because it will help cancer patients in Namibia.

Bank Windhoek has announced that the fourth Bank Windhoek Body Balance Kids Camp will take place from 17 to 21 May 2010. The camp will start daily from 07:30 until 12:30 at the SKW and DTS sports fields in Windhoek.

Athletics Namibia president Frank Fredericks on Wednesday announced junior and senior national teams that will compete at international athletics meetings in the coming months.

The teams were selected following the Coca Cola Frank Fredericks Invitational on April 9 and the Bank Windhoek Senior National Championships the next day.

The Namibian Youth team, which will compete at a Youth Olympic Games qualifying competition on May 14 and 15 in Botswana or Mauritius, is as follows:

Rodger Haitengi was the star performer at the Bank Windhoek National Athletics Championships on Saturday as he leapt to a new Namibian triple jump record of 16,74m.

In the process he shattered his previous record of 16,38m which he recently established in South Africa, while he also qualified for the African Senior Championships as well as the Commonwealth Games in India.

Haitengi narrowly overstepped on his first two jumps but on his third he soared through the air to set a new national record.

Athletics fans will be in for a treat this weekend when they will see Namibia’s top junior and senior athletes in action at the Coca Cola Frank Fredericks Invitational Meet and the Bank Windhoek Senior National Championships, respectively.

With both events serving as the final local qualifying events for upcoming international events, some top performances can also be expected.

Amongst the senior athletes, Rodger Haitengi, Tjipekapora Herunga and Hitjiverue Kaanjuka should be the star attractions.

Rodger Haitengi was Namibia’s star performer at the fourth leg of the South African Yellow Pages Athletics Series in Johannesburg on March 24, setting a new national triple jump record.

Haitengi came second in the men’s triple jump final with a leap of 16,38 metres, which was an improvement of three centimetres on his previous national record.

Haitengi established his previous national record at the Coca Cola Frank Fredericks Invitational Meet in 2007.

The Coca Cola Frank Fredericks Invitational Athletics Meeting will take place for the 14th consecutive year on Friday, April 9. Coca Cola on Tuesday announced a sponsorship of N$140 000 for the event, which will see the top eight junior athletes in the country competing against each other in selected field and track events.

At Tuesday’s launch, the event organiser Quinton Steele Botes said that it had grown in stature from humble beginnings in 1997, when Coca Cola sponsored it to an amount of N$40 000.

Old Mutual Namibia on Monday sent off the overall winners of the 2009 Old Mutual Victory Races to participate in the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town which takes place on Saturday, April 2.

Johannes Naitembu, who was the overall male winner and Helena Ipinge, the overall female winner, each received athletic equipment, flight tickets and pocket money from Revonia Kahivere, the Corporate Transformation Consultant for Old Mutual Namibia.