Upcoming Bay Half Marathon sought-after by elite athletes – NMBM

The Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon, a world athletics elite label road race for the third year in a row and an Athletics South Africa (ASA) event, established itself as a sought-after stomping ground for national and international athletes to show their mettle.

Enoch Skosana, Chairperson of ASA Road Running, said at the launch this morning that the 21.1 km race that will be held at Pollock Beach on the 3rd of June, is a world class event where not only the South African title will be decided, but valuable world athletics ranking points are also up for grabs.

“We do not take the decision lightly when national events are decided on, which means this event is highly coveted. You are the torch-bearers that others can follow,” Skosana said.

This year the half marathon will be held for the 9th time as the starting pistol sounded in 2014 for the very first race. Since then, the event grew exponentially with 1500 local, national and international athletes expected at the starting line on Saturday, 3 June.

Member of the Mayoral Committee for Sport, Recreation, Arts and Culture, Bassie Kamana, said the hosting of the marathon is part of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality’s goal to obtain a greater share of the sports tourism market.

Prior to the coronavirus outbreak, Tourism South Africa reported that sports, arts and culture contributed R125 billion to the South African economy in 2019.

“We would like to be considered as a city of action and the home of champions when it comes to major sporting events.

“By capturing a bigger slice of the sports tourism market share, we will not only increase our contribution to the Eastern Cape Gross Domestic Product, our local hospitality industry and athletes will also prosper,” MMC Kamana said.

He encouraged local athletes to do their best to keep the title at home, though it will not be an easy feat as an inspired Namakoe Nkhasi from Lesotho crossed the line first last year with a time of 1:01:01, with our very own Melikhaya Frans (1:01:03) hot on his heels.  

These two men will have to contend with stiff competition from Kenya’s Kipkemoi Kiprono and Ethiopia’s Dinkalem Ayele for the R80 000 first prize. 

Although last year’s women’s champion, Ftaw Zeray from Ethiopia, will not be competing this year, her exceptional performance by leading the race from start to finish, still remains the talk of the town.

Race Director, Mike Mbambani, said the total prize pot for the half marathon is R553 000.

He said the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon is at the epicentre of the road running legacy project with 10 km races in Motherwell, Gelvandale and Kariega/Despatch, amongst others, the breeding ground for young talent.

Mbambani wet the appetites of local athletes further by saying the 50km South African Championship is also on its way to Gqeberha next year.

Athletes can enter online at www.webtickets.co.za or at major sporting goods stores. The closing date for all online and manual entries is Monday, 28 May.

Issued on behalf of the Nelson Mandela Bay Municipality by Media Management Officer Kupido Baron (082 780 2726 / 041 506 1500 / kbaron@mandelametro.gov.za / @kupidobaron).