Byline: Kelebogile Masemola
11 August 2022
In support of Athletics Gauteng North, Former Athlete Nixon Nkodima hosted the Nkodima Development Race on Saturday, 23 July 2022 at Morula Sun, Tshwane.
One of the event planners, Keabetswe Kgaswana revealed that seeing the lack of sporting events in townships motivated them to organise the race.
Kgaswana said the event was a success as they had a great turnout from the community of Mabopane.
“We had a great turnout on the race date, we had about 200 participants in both the 4km, 10km and 21.1km events that we hosted.
We are hoping to increase the number of participants for next year’s race through marketing,” said Kgaswana.
The race offers Athletes a platform to showcase their talent and experience some former athletes.
Not only did the event benefit athletes, but the economy of Mabopane also gained massive growth as local resorts, guest houses and the transport industry benefitted a lot from the event.
“We are really pleased to have hosted such a successful event in our township, we have already started preparing to host another event in the coming year, and we hope to receive many more athletes.
The community of Mabopane did a magnificent job by cheering up the runners and by being part of the marshalls on the road and at the water points.
We also had a group doing aerobics under the leadership of Mr Sol Raphiri, a lot of people enjoyed themselves.”
Kgaswana said Nkodima Development Athletics Club, believe that they can identify and produce world class athletes coming from communities in Tshwane.
“A big thanks to Atheletics Gauteng North and Athletics South Africa for entrusting us with hosting such an event in our township and making sure that the race continues.
Let us make a mark in the sporting world, we as Nkodima Development Athletics Club, believe that we can identify and produce world class athletes coming from our communities, Mabopane, Soshanguve, Winterveldt, Ga-Rankuwa and the neighbouring townships.
Baroka funerals was the main sponsor of the event, MAWIKTA taxi association assisted on the road as marshals and kept the runners safe on the road.
