Morgan calls for more sport investment
The founder of the FNB Kazungula Marathon, Obert Morgan, has called for sport to be taken seriously in Botswana as it has the potential to add value to the economy.
Speaking to SportMonitor, Morgan said sport in other countries is a big industry while in Botswana the biggest economic activity is mining. He said other countries dominate arts, technology and sport.
“When you look at sport, it incorporates everything, from technology, manufacturing, tourism and accommodation, amongst others. My feeling is that it is the biggest industry because we cannot replace the human body with anything; people are moving all the time. To be healthy, you should be active all the time. Runners buy running gear, which means businesses are benefiting a lot. Other businesses are mushrooming to sell gargets which runners are using such as smart watches,” he said.
Morgan noted that since the suspension of school sport, some businesses are struggling because schools used to buy kits and balls from them in large numbers.
Meanwhile, road runners converged at the city centre for the third instalment of FNB Kazungula Marathon activation. The first activation was held in Kasane followed by another one in Maun. The marathon is slated for February
24, 2024. Morgan said the attendance was an indication that people are eagerly waiting for the marathon.
“It will be the third edition of the marathon and there were some lessons we picked from the past two editions. So this time around we want to go an extra mile. We are targeting 5, 000 runners. The first edition we had 2, 500 runner while in the second edition 3, 900 runners registered. What is interesting is that we are getting a lot of international registrations from countries such as Zimbabwe, Zambia, United States of America (USA), Kenya, Tanzania and New Zealand. We have positioned the marathon as a tourism-based event,” he said.
On other issues, Morgan said when tourists visit the Chobe National Park, they can decide to do the marathon. He said the third edition has seen an increase in prize money, from P500, 000 to P750, 000, which means the winners of the marathon walks away P75, 000 richer from the P50, 000 from the past two editions. He said there will also be a raffle for a vehicle which is sponsored by Halfway Toyota.
“There are other improvements that we have made for the 2024 edition, which we will announce this week. Such as merchandise distribution, registration platforms and there are many improvements we have made because the intention is to make FNB Kazungula Marathon to be an international event,” Morgan said.