Athletics

Rössing Uranium will present a milestone 21st consecutive Rössing Namibia Marathon Championship in Swakopmund on Saturday, 18 February, 2012.

The event, which this year again includes the popular 10 km Race and Charity Walk for cancer, will be organised by the Swakop Striders Athletics Club and staged at the Swakopmund Athletics Stadium in Vineta.

The prize money for the 2012 Rössing Namibia Marathon Championship will again total over N$60 000, with the marathon winners in the Men and Women’s Open categories walking away with N$10 000 in cash each.

Beata Naigambo shattered the Namibian marathon record on Friday when she came 14th at the Dubai Marathon in a time of 2:29:20.

Naigambo’s time was an improvement of more than a minute on the former record of 2:30:35 that Helalia Johannes had established when she won the Dublin Marathon in October last year.

Competing against some of the world’s top marathon runners, Naigambo kept up with the early pace setters before dropping off the pace over the second half of the race.

Beata Naigambo was the star of the final leg of the Bank Windhoek Grand Prix series on Saturday when she shattered the Namibian 3 000m record.

Naigambo obliterated the field to win in a new record time of 9:20,34, which was more than 10 seconds faster than the previous record set by Sesilia Iikango in 1998. Naigambo’s dominance was such, that she finished more than a minute ahead of the second placed athlete Lavinia Haitope who finished in a time of 10:38,85.

The final leg of the Grand Prix saw a record turnout of athletes from 13 clubs throughout the country.

The Athletics Namibia’s 2012 year plan will kick off this weekend with the third and final leg of the Bank Windhoek Grand Prix. Over 230 athletes have registered to be part of the event which will take place on Saturday 14th January 2012 at the Independence Stadium in Windhoek.

The first two legs of the Grand Prix took place in Oshakati on the 19th November 2011 and in Swakopmund on the 10th December 2012, where a total of 157 and 209 athletes competed in the respective towns.

The annual Athletics Course and Training Camp organised by Quinton Steele Botes, is currently taking place for the 19th consecutive year at Windhoek’s Independence Stadium.

The course which started on Monday, has drawn a record 357 participants who are being put through their paces by 20 qualified coaches from South Africa and Namibia.

Course organiser Quinton Steele Botes said he was happy with the turnout but did not want to make it much bigger.

The third and final leg of the Bank Windhoek Grand Prix series will take place on Saturday at the Windhoek Independence Stadium.

The first two legs were held in Oshakati and Swakopmund in November and December respectively after Athletics Namibia (AN) decided to start the season early.

AN president, Frank Fredericks said that the reason they had started the season early was to give the athletes more time to qualify for international competitions.

Namibian Athletics comes of age

A new generation of athletes came of age during 2011 with some top class performances on the international stage.

The biggest impact came at the 10th All Africa Games in Maputo, Mozambique in September, when Namibia’s athletes won three medals.

Namibia’s 23-year-old athlete Tjipekapora Herunga led the way with two bronze medals in the 200m and 400m for women.

Tjipekapora Herunga established herself as one of Africa’s finest athletes when she won two bronze medals at the All Africa Games in September.

It was the culmination of hard work and sacrifices over many years, while she also had to overcome many obstacles to reach the top.

Herunga was born on January 1, 1988 in a little village Ehungiro in Otjinene in the Omaheke region. She didn’t know her father and grew up with her mother at her grandmother’s house.

The 2011 Atheltics Namibia (AN) calendar concluded with the second leg of the Bank Windhoek Grand Prix in Swakopmund on Saturday.

A total of 209 athletes participated at the meeting, which saw 13 clubs from across Namibia participate.

Jesse Urikhob, Johannes Skrywer and Charlene Engelbrecht who all won in the first leg once again reigned supreme in their events.

Urikhob won the 100m and the 200m in 10.72 and 21.72 seconds respectively. Skrywer clocked 3:52.51 and 15:03.88 in the men’s 1 500m and 5 000m runs respectively.

Nampol Athletics Club was the overall winner of the first leg of the Bank Windhoek Athletics Grand Prix which took place at Oshakati Stadium on Saturday. Nampol won a total of 19 medals, followed by WHS Athletics Club with 8 medals and Golden Cheetahs Athletics Club with 7 medals.

A total of 157 athletes participated in the Grand Prix which saw some promising performances. Sprinters Jesse Urikhob and Memory Kapesaia, middle distance athletes Johannes Skrywer and Beata Naigambo and field athlete Charlene Engelbrecht each won two gold medals.