Seabata Mahao
Lesotho’s female marathon runner, Mokulubete Makatisi impressed at the recently concluded Spar Women’s Grand Prix 10km Series in South Africa, clinching an average third position ranking across the six-race course.
The Spar series is held in six South African cities annually, and this year’s series was hosted by Cape Town, Gqeberha, Durban, Mbombela, Tshwane and Johannesburg.
During the series, athletes compete for both prize money, points and bonus points. The accumulated points count towards the overall ranking in the series and the final points scoring concludes a series prize purse of M1.9 million.
In her final race in Johannesburg last weekend, Makatisi finished fourth with a running time of 36:26 minutes behind Ethiopia’s Selam Gebre, Debash Desta and South African Irvette Van Zyl, to seal her third overall ranking after a consistent series.
Makatisi races for team Maxed Elite under her coach and team manager, Martin Ngwenya.
As an Olympic Scholarship holder, Makatisi is using races such as the Spar Series to accumulate enough points to qualify for the 2024 Olympics Games scheduled to be held in Paris, France, where she hopes to participate in the marathon event.
In August this year, Makatisi competed in the World Athletics Championships women’s marathon in Budapest, as part of her preparations for the Olympic Games.
