Namibia's Naigambo wins gold at CAA SR Half Marathon in Swaziland

The mountain kingdom of Swaziland this past weekend played host to the 2011 Confederation of African Athletics Southern Region (CAA SR) Half Marathon where former Namibian sports woman of the year, Beata Naigambo, victoriously crossed the finish line as champion in the senior women’s category.

Naigambo clocked a time of 1:08.06 to clinch the gold medal ahead of South Africa’s Zinhle Xiniwe who finished with a time of 1:19.09.

Namibia’s Lavinia Haitope finished fifth in the women’s event with a time of 1:24.04 whilst Paulus Vilho finished 11th with a personal best time of 1:08.27 in the senior men’s category.

Team Manager Bethold Karumendu was pleased with the overall performance of the team stating that:

“The gold medal won by Beata is a clear indication that Namibia means business at international (athletics) competitions and should therefore not be taken lightly.”

He further went on to add that: “We would have finished second and third overall in the women and men’s team categories respectively if we had entered a complete team of four individuals each.”

Remarking on her performance Naigambo added that: “The course was very challenging, but I’m glad I managed to bring back the gold.”

Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, South Africa and Swaziland participated in the event, with South Africa winning the overall team prizes in both the men and women’s categories.