Namibia Correctional Services (NCS) runner Paulus Daniel on Saturday missed the course record of the 21-kilometre Navachab Gold Mine half-marathon by 19 seconds as he won the eighth edition of the competition at Karibib in the Erongo Region.
NCS’s Daniel led from start to finish in a time of one hour, three minutes and 20 seconds (01:03:48) and won the race ahead of teammate and fellow Commonwealth games participant Reinhold Tomas who clocked 01:03:40 with third-placed Paulus Simon, also from NCS, coming home after 01:04:20.
The top four athletes in the top seven of the men’s competition belonged to NCS with Daniel and Tomas having represented Namibia at the recently concluded 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games.
Another NCS runner and Commonwealth participant Alina Armas won the women’s competition in a time of 01:20:02 ahead of Windhoek Athletics Club’s Indileni Mweshamekange who came home in 01:22 minutes.
The third place belonged to the University of Namibia’s (Unam) Victoria Kaliteka who clocked 01:24:06.
The winners each pocketed medals, goodie bags from the sponsors and an amount of N.dollars 7 000 each, with runners up receiving N.dollars 5 000 each and third placed athletes getting N.dollars 3 000.
Speaking after the race, Daniels said he was happy to have won, adding that the late start of the race made them run in hot conditions in the second half of the marathon.
“The competition was tough, the problem was the weather when we returned. The road was not busy. I wanted to run faster but my body could not do that because of the heat. I had really prepared well for this race, but I am happy,” he said.
Armas paid tribute to her coaches and teammates saying she initially struggled with cramps and muscle spasms and a bad start before finding herself in the second position for most of the race.
“The race was ok. I started a bit slow and when we came back, it was a bit chilly. The weather was also a bit hot in the second half of the race,” she added.
The race was marking its return following a two-year hiatus due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 outbreak.
Source: The Namibian Press Agency
