Namibia: Moon Valley Marathon Launched

By Helge Schütz

SPAR Namibia and the Gondwana Collection have teamed up to present a uniquely Namibian event, the Moon Valley Marathon which will take place for the first time on 19 March this year.

As the name suggests, the event will traverse the world famous Moon Landscape outside Swakopmund, while athletes can enter a full 42km marathon, a 21km half marathon or a 10km fun run.

At the event's launch yesterday, Spar Namibia's group manager Francois Lottering said it was a privilege to be involved in the race with Gondwana.

"It's a big privilege for us to be here and to be involved in another race, but this one is quite an exciting one for us. Over the past two years, Covid-19 really hit us hard, on a business level and a personal level - it was tough for everybody, and it was tough to do business," he said.

"You might wonder why Spar and Gondwana are combining to host this race, but we have a lot of similarities, and we want to give back to the community and the runners, so that everyone can just have some fun," he added.

'We are both proudly Namibian companies, we cater for our clients in truly Namibian fashion and everyone that knows that there is a Spar in every town, while there are also Gondwana lodges all over the country where you can stay, while we cater for our local Namibian market but the tourists as well, who form a large part of our business.

"We decided that we want to do something together so that we can give back to the communities. It's a privilege for us to be in a partnership with Gondwana and we are really looking forward to this race," he said.

The entry fee is N$250 for the full and half marathons and N$150 for the 10km run, while athletes can enter at gondwana-collection.com via the Explore and Adventure Travel links.

Steny Watermeyer, the sales manager of Gondwana Collection gave more details about the race information.

"The race will start at the tennis courts at the Mole in Swakopmund, while the half and full marathons will take you along the Moon Valley landscape, while there is also a 10km fun run," she said.

"Registration opens today and to be able to register you need to visit our Moon Valley Marathon landing page on our Gondwana collection website. Both entries and payments will be handled via this online portal that was developed for us by Events Today. Everything will be managed online and this landing page will also have all the relevant information and updates," she said.

"There will be a pre-race registration for all the participants at the Delight Swakopmund Hotel, the day before the event, between 12h00 and 20h00, where the runners can register and collect their race numbers and race packs," she added.

Watermeyer said there will be prizes for the first three finishers in both the full and half marathons, while the 10km fun run participants will all be entered into a lucky draw.

"We expect a maximum of 200 people per race and with those numbers we are looking at a possible sponsorship group wise of about N$300 000," she said.

"This is a first for Gondwana, so we are really looking forward to the Moon Valley Marathon this year and hope that it will be the first of many to come," she added.

This article originally appeared on Namibian

Photo: Helge Schütz