Race boosts sport tourism
Thousands of runners braved the cold to take part in the Ehlanzeni Sport Tourism Race this past Saturday at Mbombela Stadium.
More than 500 athletes participated in either a fun run, 10km or half-marathon. The winners of the 21km were Enos Matalane of Cool Runnings in 01:07:15 and Winile Mnisi of Maxed Elite Mr Price in 01:17:37.
They both won R7 000. The winners of the 10km were William Mothhosola of Nedbank LVCC in 30:27 and Catherine Skosana of Nedbank Running Club in 39:01, both won R3 000.
“Sport tourism boosts the economy of a region and can uplift the local community in sustainable ways. The goal of this marathon is to start instituting local sustainable projects based on revenue streams as well as to put our region on the South African sporting calendar,” said Helen Clarke of Ehlanzeni.
The race is hosted by Ehlanzeni and offers one of the biggest prize packages for a half-marathon in the country. The race is set to grow and the organisers hope that it will make it to the South African half-marathon championships race in the future.
The LED department for tourism and rural development at the district municipality are consistently moving their goals to ensure that this half-marathon becomes one of the biggest sports tourism drawcards in the city.
