OSHAKATI: A high number of close to 660 athletes, mostly the youngsters, participated in the third leg of the 2012 Old Mutual Victory Races at Oshakati in the Oshana region on Saturday.

A total of 601 runners took part in the 5km race and only 56 athletes participated in the race’s 21km on the Oshakati-Okahao main road.

“Despite the chilly weather condition, athletes arrived ready to compete for the winning prizes,” one of the organizers, Revonia Kahivere, told Nampa after the race. This year, Old mutual has made available N.dollars 510 000 for the race series, including two sports development bursaries for learners to the tune of N.dollars 12 000 each.

Kahivere explained that these bursaries will be awarded at the end of the series. The junior category winner of last year’s series, Julian Fryman, utilized the bursary for tertiary studies at the Polytechnic of Namibia.

Kristof Shaanika was the overall winner of Saturday’s leg in the male category with a time of 1:03’04 and scooped the first prize of N.dollars 1 500. The runner-up in this category is Simon Shipingana with a time of 1:03’10, followed by Robert Kaxuxwena from the Namibia Defence Force (NDF) with a time of 1:03’15.

Shipingana and Kaxuxwena took home N.dollars 800 and N.dollars 600, respectively. Beata Naigambo is the third leg’s overall winner in the women category, winning it with a time of 1:08’29 and she was also awarded N.dollars 1 500.

Namibia’s long distance runner, Helalia Johannes, who is currently with the Namibia Olympic team to London in the United Kingdom (UK), won this women category during the second leg held at the coastal town of Swakopmund in the Erongo Region last month. Lavinia Haitope and Sofia Nambabi finished the third leg in the second position and third position, respectively.

The two received similar prizes to that awarded to their counterparts in the men category.
Namibia Beverages has once again committed to be the official soft drink sponsor for the 2012 Old Mutual Victory Races competition. The Oshakati Primary School is said to have produced most of the third leg’s participants, hence Old Mutual donation of N.dollars 1 000 to that school.

The first leg was held at Keetmanshoop in the Karas Region, while the fourth and final leg of the 2012 Old mutual Victory Races is slated for Windhoek in the Khomas region, at Jan Mohr Secondary School, on the 4th August.