Athletics: Southern Region Half-Marathon Championships-Prize money at stake |20 October 2005

In all, seven nations, including Seychelles, will contest the race and it is hoped that local athletics fans will witness a battle between the fastest half-marathon runners in  southern Africa.

The six foreign teams who have confirmed their participation are South Africa (five female runners), Namibia (one male and one female), Zambia (one male and one female), Botswana (one male and one female), Angola (two male runners) and Mauritius (two male runners).

According to a Seychelles Amateur Athletics Federation (SAAF) spokesperson, only four Seychellois distance runners – Simon Labiche, Ronny Marie, Simone Jaffa and Anna Barra – have shown an interest in competing and are training hard ahead of the race.

He added that the race is open to all Seychellois and that locals can still register for the event by Wednesday November 2 the latest.

The spokesperson noted that this year’s half-marathon is expected to be of a high level with the participation of seven countries and the event being recognised by the International Amateur Athletics Federations (IAAF).

IAAF Regional Development Centre director John Velzian is to arrive here soon to do the road measurement. This means that if a world record is broken during the race, it will be ratified by the IAAF.

Prizes

While all participants who finish the race will receive a T-Shirt and a certificate, the top-three male and female finishers, be they Seychellois or foreigners, will get cups as reward.

Two local athletes could easily pocket R3,000 on the day if they can run within the times specified by the SAAF.

In the men’s race, if a Seychellois clocks between 1h05:0 and 1h06.1 and finishes first, he will earn R1,500 and because the new time will better Simon Labiche’s standing record of 1h06:1 set here on October 24, 2004 in another edition of the Southern Region Half-Marathon, he will get an addition R500 for the Seychelles record. In the event of the runner reaching the finish line in less than 1h05:00 he will get R1,000 as bonus for a purse of R3,000 after 21 kilometres of hard running.

The same award formula applies for local female athletes and the record to beat is 1h33.1 being held by Margaret Morel since April 1981.

For a local female athlete to receive the R1,000 bonus, she will have to complete the distance in less than 1h33:2.

It is to note that the SAAF has so far received R19,500 from different sponsors to organise the event. The sponsors are Cable & Wireless (R10,00), State Assurance Corporation of Seychelles (R3,000), Banyan Tree (R1,000), Allied Builders R1,000), UCPS (R2,000), Chelle Medical (R2,000) and Victoria Car Hire R500).

Other sponsors are welcomed to make any kind of contribution.

G. G.