Monday, October 15, 2018

A RECORD TURNOUT FOR THE ROTARY DAR MARATHON AS IT MARKS 10 YEARS

(From Left to right) The Rotary Dar Marathon 2018 committee chair, Ms. Catherinerose Barretto, The Rotary Dar Marathon Chair of the Board, Ms. Sharmila Bhatt and SBC Tanzania’s CEO Avinash Jha wave their flags to officially start the Rotary Dar Marathon 2018 which took place yesterday during the Nyerere Day at the Green grounds Oysterbay in Dar es salaam. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROTARY DAR MARATHON.
A cross section of runners take part in the 10th edition of the 2018 Rotary Dar Marathon which takes place annually in Dar es Salaam. More than 15,000 people have turned up to participate in this year’s Marathon where the event marked its 10th anniversary in a fashionable style in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROTARY DAR MARATHON.
Faraja Lazaro Damas of Tanzania crosses the finish line to win the 2018 Rotary Dar Marathon Men’s 21.1km race at the Green grounds in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The Marathon marks its 10th anniversary since its inception in 2009. 
A Competitor in the Men's 21.1km cycling leads the pack at the start of the 2018 Rotary Dar Marathon held in Dar es Salaam yesterday during the Nyerere Day at the Green grounds Oysterbay in Dar es Salaam.
Rotary Dar Marathon Patron, His Excellency the former President Al-Haj, Ali Hassan Mwinyi hands over a fully paid ticket to Beruit Marathon to the winner of Men’s 42.2km full Marathon a Tanzanian resident, Samson Ntandu during the 2018 Rotary Dar Marathon which took place at the Green grounds Oysterbay in Dar es Salaam yesterday. The runner will have the opportunity to participate in the Beirut Marathon with everything fully sponsored by Pepsi. Through this initiative, Pepsi aims to raise the profile of Tanzanian runners on the global stage.
Winner of Women’s 42.2km full Marathon a Tanzanian resident, Sara Ramadhani poses for a photo with her counterparts Dorcas Chesano (left) who emerged second and Doris Fisha (right) who emerged third in the 2018 Rotary Dar Marathon which took place at the Green grounds Oysterbay in Dar es Salaam yesterday. PHOTO COURTESY OF ROTARY DAR MARATHON.



Dar es Salaam. The Rotary Dar Marathon had one of its biggest turnouts this year as it marks ten years of its existence since it was started in 2009. An estimated total of 15,000 people participated in the event which included a full marathon of 42.2km, a half marathon 21.1km, including cyclists, and a 9km and 5km family walk. This year, the Rotary Marathon was also held in Bukoba and Karagwe where over 1,400 participants ran and walked.

The Rotary Dar Marathon, considered as one of the biggest marathons in the country and a prime event in the Country’s sporting and social calendars, had participants from all walks of life, different ages and a number of professional marathon runners Kenya, Rwanda, Uganda, and Malawi. This year’s event, as has been the case in the past 9 years, was generously sponsored by various companies such as Pepsi, Ashton Media, Toyota, ALAF, Minet, Zoom Tanzania, Resolution Insurance, Clouds Media Group, Azam, Plasco, Insignia, Knight Support, Ashers Industries, Exim Bank, KLM, CSI Construction and Soft Tech.

The event kicked off in the early morning hours of Sunday as the various runners were flagged off starting with the long-distance runners 42.2 km runners, followed by the half marathon 21.1 km runners and cyclists. The route which saw runners and cyclists go through the peninsula into the heart of the city had the first runners back at The Green around 8.30am where the full marathon was dominated by professional athletes and the male winners being Samson Ntandu from Tanzania for the full marathon, followed by Peter Sule from Tanzania for the second place and thirdly Dushimukiza Thomas from Rwanda.

Winners amongst the female runners were Sara Ramadhani from Tanzania seconded by Dorcas Chesano from Kenya and thirdly Doris Fisha from Malawi.The Tanzania winning runner in the full marathon is Samson Ntandu for the men and Sara Ramadhani for the women who have won a full sponsorship to represent Tanzania in the Beirut Marathon this year, courtesy of SBC Pepsi.

Speaking during the event, the winner Samson Ntandu, expressed how grateful he was to the organizers who did a great job and had this to add, “It was an exciting route and it’s great to see that the months of training that I put into this, have finally paid off.’

Giving out the prizes this year was the patron of the Rotary Dar Marathon, former president Ali Hassan Mwinyi called on Tanzanians to exercise and take part in such events as they not only promote a healthy lifestyle but through their participation and contribution they support very worthy causes that go a long way in helping the underprivileged. He commended the Rotary Clubs in Dar es Salaam for continuing to organize the Rotary Dar Marathon and raising funds for various high impact community service projects.

The Chair of the Board of the Rotary Dar Marathon, Mrs Sharmila Bhatt, could not hide her excitement due to the turnout this year, “I’m overwhelmed by your support and more so that we have had a historic turnout this year and I would like to thank all the people that have made this possible from the sponsors, volunteers, our fellow Rotarians and every single one of you who has taken part. This wouldn’t be possible without your generous support and belief in our efforts and cause” said Mrs Bhatt. 

She continued to remind people that each individual participating has surely touched on a lot more people through Rotary Marathon’s continued efforts.
Rotary Dar Marathon Chair, Catherinerose Barretto, expressed “an event that started humbly in 2009 with 700 participants, today, as Rotarians, we are proud of what we have achieved with the strong support of our community and will continue to serve above self for the years to come”

Other winners from this event included:-


MEN’S 21.1KM
1 FARAJA LAZARO (TANZANIA)
2 DONALD MUSSA (KENYA)
3 JOSEPH PANGA (TANZANIA)

WOMEN’S 21.1KM 
1 CATHERINE SYOKAO (KENYA)
2 NANCY JERAGAT (KENYA)
3 MARATHA YANKURINJE (RWANDA)

CYCLING 21.1KM (MEN)
1 MOHAMED SHAMU (TANZANIA)
2 MUSA WAER (TZ)
3 HASSAN AMIR (TZ)


CYCLING 21.1KM (WOMEN)
1 HAMIDA ACKLAND (TZ)
2 UPENDO NCHOME (TZ)
3 TASMEEN HASSAN (TZ)

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