Dintwe requires P60 000 in prize money
Veteran marathon runner Onneile Dintwe ensured that she defends her PPC Kgale Hill Challenge title by winning this year’s edition of the PPC Cement Kgale challenge within an hour after running a beautiful and yet challenging course.
The race course was not easy as it features a lot of step climbs that required both skill and stamina.The lean and mean Dintwe won the race for the third consecutive after recording an impressive 57 minutes in 2016 and narrowly improving it by a minute in 2017, this time around the Kanye born struggled under a new course and came home to finish the race after an hour.
Dintwe recently joined Gaborone Striders Running Club, from Nedbank Running Club, a move she believes will open up doors for her, “there is a marathon I want to run and my new club will help me get there as they specialize in ultra-marathons and marathons,” she said in a sideline interview after the Marathon. “The plan is to run the Soweto Marathon, which is 42 km and then prepare for the next year Marathon which will now be 56 km.”
Further Dintwe believes she will further polish her chance of competing at advanced Marathons in Europe where the prize money is even better. “Athletics on its own is a challenge, I should have P60 000 in my pocket as per preparations for big marathons which, I will spend money for preparation for a period of 3 months. With this kind of preparation, I can be able to compete in Europe where prize money is around half a million.”
“I knew that anything could happen because my preparations were not at an optimum level. Sport is expensive and it requires a lot of money for dieting and supplements amongst other things. You need at least P60,000 over three months,” she said.Dintwe walked away with P7500 in prize money for the Kgale Uphill Challenge. Meanwhile the men’s champion was Sibusiso Nzima from Nedbank who recorded a time of 49:00:00. He walked away with P7,500 for his efforts.
Addressing the media after the race, PPC Managing Director Tuelo Botlhole said half of the Marathon proceedings will be donated to Mokolodi pre-school, which requires completion and renovation. “We have a quarry in Mokolodi hence our selection of Mmokolodi Pre-school, we mine the rocks and sand that is used in the construction of Boatle-Game City road,” Botlhole said.
He added that the route was amended to accommodate the ongoing road construction of Boatle Game City Road. Botlhole cited that this time around athletes had a chance to enjoy a new scenery around Kgale. The PPC Kgale Hill Challenge was celebrating 20 years of existence.