Course record breaking Half Marathon successfully hosted in NMB – NMBM

The Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality in partnership with the Eastern Province Athletics (EPA) today, 4 May 2022, successfully hosted a course record breaking Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon.

This iconic event attracted more than 1500 athletes from across the African continent.

Following last year’s 250 athletes participation, due to COVID-19 regulations, the NMBM Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture Portfolio Head, Cllr Bassie Kamana, said that the City was thrilled to have hosted the largest field ever in this Half Marathon, with more than 1500 entries, after the COVID-19 outbreak.

“What a wonderful sight to see thousands of spectators enjoying the race and supporting the athletes –  you can see that people have been craving for this.  This is the biggest race yet in the Bay following the pandemic. Our very own Nelson Mandela Bay athletes have also done well. We saw Melikhaya Frans finishing at number two in the men’s race. This is a great platform for all athletes to compete and learn from each other and we are happy to continue contributing towards a vibrant sporting and tourism culture within our City,” Kamana said.

Lesotho’s Namakoe Khansi won the men’s race and Ethiopia’s Ftaw Bezabh finished  at number one in the women’s race.

Race Director Mike Mbambani said: “The easing of the COVID-19 regulations has boosted this year’s event. As race director, I am one of the most excited people here:  my athlete (Melikhaya Frans) won the SA title. We had athletes from Zimbabwe, Lesotho, Kenya, Ethiopia, Namibia and of course  South Africa. The first prize is R80 000, second prize is R50 000, while the prize package of this race is sitting at around R570 000 overall. It was an exciting race and we have another race taking place in Colchester later this month.”

Athletics SA President, James Moloi, said in preparation for the World Championships in November, more races would take place in Nelson Mandela Bay.

“Today our athletics ran very well. We are going to pick up three men and three women for selection for the World Championships in November. Most of our athletics did very well, especially Melikhaya Frans from EPA, who came second. He did the race in 60 minutes, so we are very excited and we are saying we will bring more prestigious events to Gqeberha. We are saying we will preserve this partnership going forward with the City,” Moloi said.