No stopping LVCC’s Sehohle
Nedbank LVCC athlete, Folavio Sehohle, won R7 000 after claiming first place the half-marathon in a respectable 65 minutes.
In a bid to promote tourism in the region, Ehlanzeni District Municipality hosted the sixth annual Sports Tourism Day at Mbombela Stadium on Saturday.
The event comprised of a series of road races including a fun run, a 10-kilometre race and a half marathon. Both race routes went through the local Mataffin settlement, with the 21km also going along the N4 by pass to the Sabie road.
For Sehohle, who celebrated his 26th birthday on the day, the prize money also served as a welcome birthday gift.
This runner, who is South Africa’s top 1 500-metre athlete, is preparing for the TomTom Thembisa Street Mile to be held in Johannesburg on October 30.
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Last year he crossed the line in second place, but this year he believes he is in better shape and will take
first place.
Now fully recovered from the injuries that held him back from his dream of competing at the 2016 Rio Olympics, Saturday’s race was his best performance of the season.
Only 53 seconds behind him was KPMG’s Sikhumbuko Seme, who crossed the finish line in just 66 minutes.
Longile Gongqa was hot in his heels in a time of 66:25.
In the female open category, Louisa Leballo from Nedbank LVCC finished in a time of 78:46, just over a minute in front of the runner-up, Liziwe Mabona from Nelspruit Marathon Club. In the 10-kilometre men’s race, Nedbank LVCC’s William Mothosola took the spoils after finishing in just over 30 minutes. Mothosola, an 800-metre athlete, ran a time of 1:46,71 at the SA champs, missing the Rio-qualifying time by a mere 0,72.
The first female to cross the line was Eskom’s Glenrose Xaba in just over 34 minutes, followed by Thandi Sehohle of KPMG.
Mark Greeff, of Nedbank LVCC, organisers of the race says that the number of entries continue to grow ever year and this year’s race was a huge success with 500 entries. Close to 100 runners joined the fun run of 4,8 kilometre that was run around the Stadium, with the Ehlanzeni Speedsters winning the team prize for this event.
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“More than 20 pairs of running shoes were distributed to the junior development runners of the local community during prize giving,” he said.
Johan Mavuso, MMC of local economic development, tourism and rural development at Ehlanzeni, said that the best way to promote tourism is to use events like the Sports Tourism Day.
