Hesron Kapanga

Berthold Karumendu, the organiser of the Erongo Powersave Omaruru Street Mile, aims to introduce a fully automatic timing (FAT) system for the race.

However, the Sport Officer for the Ministry of Sport, Youth and National Service, who is based in Erongo region and works in Omaruru, has stated that additional funds will be required to make this dream a reality.

FAT is a type of race timing where the starting device automatically starts the clock and the finish time is either automatically recorded or timed through analysis of a photo finish.

In an interview with Nampa on Saturday, Karumendu said his goal is to have electronic systems for the event, but the machines are expensive, which makes it a challenge.

“We would like to see international athletes competing in the event in the future, but this can only be achieved when more logistics are improved and electronic timing replaces the current manual system,” Karumendu said.

Moreover, he plans to divide the junior category into two age groups. He intends to separate athletes between the 18- and 19-year-old categories from athletes 17 years old and under.

The 10th edition of the Erongo Powersave Street Mile Run was a huge success, with 1,402 participants from all over Namibia competing for top honours over 1.6 kilometres.

“I am happy with the number of young talents who participated in the event. The quality of the race had improved over the past 10 years, and the event featured elite Namibian athletes who had recently competed at the World Athletics Championships in Budapest, Hungary, such as Alina Armas in the women’s race and Thomas Reinhard in the men’s race,” Karumendu said.

Karumendu mentioned that the success of the event owes much to the support of sponsors. He expressed his gratitude towards the companies, namely Shield Namibia/Erongo Powersave Wholesale, FNB-Omaruru, Coca-Cola Namibia Bottling Company, the Ministry of Sport, Youth, and National Service for transporting athletes to Omaruru, the Omaruru Municipality, Omaruru Spar, the Namibian Police in Omaruru/Traffic Department, and the Omaruru District Hospital (MOHSS), who have been supporting the race since 2013. 

– Nampa