Lesotho’s Kamohelo Mofolo and Lavinia Haitope of Namibia were the big winners of the Nelson Mandela Bay Half Marathon at Pollok Beach on Saturday.
The 11th edition of the popular NMB 21km attracted some leading runners from Africa and in the competitive men’s professional field Mofolo crossed the finishing line with no sweat in 60 minutes and 52 seconds.
He was followed by Namibia’s Daniel Paulus in 61:51 and third was Rogers Murei of Kenya, finishing in 62:01.
The 19-year-old Mofolo is the second runner from Lesotho to have won the NMB Half Marathon after Namakoe Nkhasi was crowned 2022’s winner.
Coming into the race, the Xcel Running Club athlete said his preparation had been good and he had targeted a victory.
He has now set his sights on a record-breaking 10km performance at the Absa Run Your City in Durban next Sunday.
“I am very happy to have won this race,” Mofolo said.
“That was my target from training and I am happy to have won, though I did not reach my target, which was to finish the race under 60 minutes and 10 seconds.
“I’ll be doing the Absa Run Your City next, where I will try to break the national 10km record of Lesotho.”
In the women's race, 35-year-old winner Haitope clocked a time of 1:14:12.
South Africans Busisiwe Chamene and Malineo Mahloko, both from KwaZulu-Natal, claimed second and third places respectively.
Chamene finished in 1:14:12 and Mahloko crossed the finishing line in 1:18:31.
“I am very happy with my time,” Haitope said.
“The race was not easy, the course is tough, but I am very happy with my position.”
The race organisers said they were impressed by the turnout.
The 2025 edition also saw a 5km mass participation event.
“It’s an experience of a lifetime to see the turnout for the 11th edition of the NMB 21km.
“It was difficult to tell people that the race was sold out, and they could not believe it on Friday,” race director Michael Mbambani said.
“However, everything was in place in terms of meeting the required standard to deliver such an impressive race.
“Also, the athletes did amazingly well.
Mofolo had a great performance, 60:52, which is one of the top-five-fastest times of the race.
“We would like to thank the Nelson Mandela Bay municipality for keeping us afloat for so long and also attracting more sponsors in Nike, Eastern Cape Motors and Coca-Cola.”
The Herald