POLOKWANE: A strong contingent of enthusiastic SAPS members left their footprints in this year’s edition of the annual Seshego Ultra Marathon staged on Sunday, 14 September in Limpopo’s capital city of Polokwane. A total of 548 police officers representing teams of their respective provinces took part in in the SAPS National Half Marathon (21.1km ) championship and the Ultra Marathon (50km) races.
The main 50km Ultra Marathon serves as a qualifier for both Comrades and Two Oceans Marathons. It started at 05:30 from Mankweng and finished in Polokwane while the Half Marathon (21.1km) started at 06:00 from Seshego Stadium and was capped at 1000 participants. Participants also took part in two additional races, the 10km and 5km fun run.
Brig. Mathe, national spokesperson for the police, said of the contingent of runners, 84 were from the head office. She said the KwaZulu-Natal province had a strong representation of 140 runners followed in second place by the host province Limpopo with 109 runners. Gauteng province is third with 50 runners, fourth is Free State with 37 runners and fifth is Mpumalanga with 31 runners. The Eastern Cape and North West provinces had the smallest teams of 21 and 20 runners respectively.
“Keeping fit is an inherent requirement for all police officers, hence the SAPS encourages fitness within its ranks. The SAPS has partnered with health clubs such as Planet Fitness and Virgin Active where each police officer receives a 20% discount towards their membership fees. The SAPS also allocates time for members to exercise to ensure our police officers are always ready to pursue criminals,” said Mathe. She said regular fitness assessments are conducted to assess officers level of fitness. “This goes a long way in ensuring members stay operationally ready to respond to the call of duty,” said Mathe.
Mathe said Lt. Gen. Thembi Hadebe, Provincial Commissioner of Limpopo, attended the Ultra Marathon and was accompanied by Neo Khuaoe, the POLMED principal officer.
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