Professer claims Uniwisp Kaapsehoop title

The local runner, who finished 19th overall in this year’s Comrades Marathon, fell just short of his target time of 02:16:00, but claimed the title.

It is fast – the record for the Kaapsehoop Marathon is 02:18:18.

Mthethwa’s time was the third fastest recorded since 2012, confirmed Arthur Meneke, chairman of Nelspruit Marathon Club.

About 10 000 runners entered this year’s three races – and 7 748 finished. According to Meneke, the numbers show that hundreds of runners who entered the 42 kilometres ran the 21 kilometres instead.

Runners who travel from all over the country to participate in the scenic race, fawned about how well it was organised.

It is an old one – having started with 21 kilometres in 1984. The 42 kilometres was added in 1993 – a total of 62 athletes participated that year.

One snag this year was that the races started late – which Meneke attributes to the number of cars dropping people off, congesting the roads.

“Nelspruiters refuse to arrive an hour early to take the bus. We are going to have to see if we cannot close the road next year.”

He added that it took hours of planning and endless sleepless nights to make this event the huge success it was.

“We would like to express our gratitude towards all of the volunteers of NMC and Uniwisp that contributed towards the success of this event.

“We also would like to thank all of our water points who did a smashingly awesome job keeping our runners hydrated.

“(To) our thousands of runners, thank you! Without our runners, there would be no reason for a race.”

Overall winners

42 km
Men
Professer Mthethwa – 02:19:27
Willem Maphanga – 02:26:17
Tebogo Sithole – 02:26:32
Women
Caroline Josten – 02:48:13
Cobie Smith – 02:51:52
Helena Joubert – 02:52:02

21 km
Men
Tebogo Pulusa – 01:05:52
Patrick Machakela – 01:07:36
Donaldo Machava – 01:07:44
Women
Rona Reynecke – 01:18:55
Zeferina Hundo – 01:19:28
Vicky Hansen – 01:19:34

10 km
Men
Melusi Khumalo – 30:44
Sibanginkosi Maseko – 31:01
Sikhumbuzo Sihlongonyane – 31:01
Women
Angeline Molaba – 42:00
Chantal Middel Bovee – 43:06
Zanele Sehohle – 47:00

Some people did some sums and questioned why, if Nelspruit Marathon Club makes approximately R2 million from the race, they offer so little prize money – only R1 500 for the 42km winners.

“We will definitely look at the prize money next year. But how much is enough?” Meneke said.

He explained that they made very little profit on the race, and used those funds to reinvest back into the athletes, such as assisting in transporting them to races, helping underprivileged athletes from other clubs participate in races, and having functions that benefit all the club members.

Uniwisp as the title sponsor makes a massive contribution to the infrastructure, more than in cash – managing the start and end points, as well as cleaning up. They transported all the left-over water to Barberton.

“It is impossible to know for how many athletes to prepare,” Meneke said. “If you have too little water or ice, you have a problem.

“We worked until 01:00 to capture all the late entries. Next year we will definitely only accept pre-entries.”

Some of the costs of organising the Uniwisp Kaapsehoop 3-in-1 Marathon

• T-shirts – R514 000
• 55 buses – R280 000
• 8 tons of ice – R220 000
• 550 kg of medals – R205 000
• Cold drinks – R148 000
• Toilets – R110 000
• Cups – R24 000
• Prize money – R17 600.

SEE MORE: Uniwisp Kaapsehoop marathon 2019