Lefika International Relays claim right to use the track for its World Athletics calendar event end of March
The Local Organizing Committee (LOC) of Lefika International Relays and Hurdles competition have this week announced that the event will be held at the National Stadium in Gaborone on Saturday 29 March 2025 amid ongoing refurbishment happening at the venue.
This was confirmed during the official launch of the competition which was performed by Gaborone City Council mayor, Oarabile Motlaleng on Monday and there has been questions making rounds since then on whether the national stadium track & field renovations would be complete.
Organizers of the event made submissions to this publication that, as far as they are concerned, the event is listed in the World Athletics calendar and Botswana Athletics calendar with the national stadium registered as the host venue.
According to recent reports by the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Chief Executive Officer, Tuelo Serufho, the ongoing ground work is expected to be completed by April as the stadium is also expected to host Botswana Golden Grand Prix on the 12th of April. “This event is in the World Athletics, BNSC and Botswana Athletics Association calendar; if the sport mother-body decided to
revamp the stadium during this time, it means they have made all the necessary evaluation to ensure the event will not be disrupted. They have not consulted us to this point so I believe that all is in place, we should not be worried,” Lefika Athletics Club chairman and head of Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Ookeditse Malesu shared.
Reached for a comment, BNSC Communications and Marketing office revealed that, organizers of the Lefika Athletics Club International Relays and Hurdles competition should have been well advised about the unavailability of the stadium until April.
“There was an immediate press release circulated to all our NSAs [National Sport Associations’] on the 03rd of December 2024, advising on National Stadium closure. We then received a schedule of events from BAA on the 16th of December 2024, of which we responded to. With the ongoing track maintenance, the National Stadium is not available for any activity until April 2025 and we advised
that they can use other available facilities,” the response read.
Francistown remains an alternative to stage the event but there has been suggestions by some close quarters to Lefika Athletics Club that, they will not wilt over their intensions to use the national stadium unless some costs to move the event to the north will be owned by the relevant authorities who caused the mishap. Despite the uncertainties hovering over the possibilities of staging the event in Gaborone, LOC chairperson, Malesu, insisted that plans for the 4th edition of the event are going well and he contend that it will be much bigger and better than ever before.
ER 24/7, an emergency medical services company has been announced as one of the sponsors of the event at a value of around P80 000, however, Malesu has implored more sponsors to come on board to help them deliver a world class event.
“This time around we’ll be more organized, we are engaging with various institutions to secure an athletes village. We are in talks with various businesses and corporates to come through as the title sponsors, hopefully soon we will make announcements on the developments. We are looking at around P800 000 to P1,2 million, we are ready to make them the title sponsor and of course the naming rights,” Malesu revealed.
At least eight (8) African countries are expected to grace the event as it is accredited by World Athletics as a qualifying event to other major competitions across the world.
This was confirmed during the official launch of the competition which was performed by Gaborone City Council mayor, Oarabile Motlaleng on Monday and there has been questions making rounds since then on whether the national stadium track & field renovations would be complete.
Organizers of the event made submissions to this publication that, as far as they are concerned, the event is listed in the World Athletics calendar and Botswana Athletics calendar with the national stadium registered as the host venue.
According to recent reports by the Botswana National Sport Commission (BNSC) Chief Executive Officer, Tuelo Serufho, the ongoing ground work is expected to be completed by April as the stadium is also expected to host Botswana Golden Grand Prix on the 12th of April. “This event is in the World Athletics, BNSC and Botswana Athletics Association calendar; if the sport mother-body decided to
revamp the stadium during this time, it means they have made all the necessary evaluation to ensure the event will not be disrupted. They have not consulted us to this point so I believe that all is in place, we should not be worried,” Lefika Athletics Club chairman and head of Local Organizing Committee (LOC) Ookeditse Malesu shared.
Reached for a comment, BNSC Communications and Marketing office revealed that, organizers of the Lefika Athletics Club International Relays and Hurdles competition should have been well advised about the unavailability of the stadium until April.
“There was an immediate press release circulated to all our NSAs [National Sport Associations’] on the 03rd of December 2024, advising on National Stadium closure. We then received a schedule of events from BAA on the 16th of December 2024, of which we responded to. With the ongoing track maintenance, the National Stadium is not available for any activity until April 2025 and we advised
that they can use other available facilities,” the response read.
Francistown remains an alternative to stage the event but there has been suggestions by some close quarters to Lefika Athletics Club that, they will not wilt over their intensions to use the national stadium unless some costs to move the event to the north will be owned by the relevant authorities who caused the mishap. Despite the uncertainties hovering over the possibilities of staging the event in Gaborone, LOC chairperson, Malesu, insisted that plans for the 4th edition of the event are going well and he contend that it will be much bigger and better than ever before.
ER 24/7, an emergency medical services company has been announced as one of the sponsors of the event at a value of around P80 000, however, Malesu has implored more sponsors to come on board to help them deliver a world class event.
“This time around we’ll be more organized, we are engaging with various institutions to secure an athletes village. We are in talks with various businesses and corporates to come through as the title sponsors, hopefully soon we will make announcements on the developments. We are looking at around P800 000 to P1,2 million, we are ready to make them the title sponsor and of course the naming rights,” Malesu revealed.
At least eight (8) African countries are expected to grace the event as it is accredited by World Athletics as a qualifying event to other major competitions across the world.
