r ot kusukela igama enoke kusho ukuqeqeshwa nokufundisa, okwenza sicabange umsebenzi kajesu umyalo ebandleni. -- "" ngakho--ke hambani niyokwenza izizwe zonke abafundi"" (mathewu 28:19 ) he 25 year old ethiopian getachew bekele (25) from ethiopia was the first to touch the nelson mandela marathon finish line on sunday morning. the marathon started from the manaye hall in imbali to the mandela capture site in howick. bekele finished the race in 2/29/48 (2 hours,28minutesand19seconds).hewasfollowed by nedbank’s david rasefako who finished in 2/30/50. sikhumbuzo seme from cape town was the south african who made it in the third place in 2/31/25. moses mabhida road came into a standstill for longer minutes as runners were running in the inner routes of the race in imbali. residents from gomora and imbali unit 1 came out in numbers to support the runners. hordes of people were also at the mandela capture site where the race ended. speaking to echo, bekele said he could not explain his excitement after winning the race. speaking through his translator, promised that he is coming back to run the race again. “iknowthemandelanamebecauseheisthe world icon. being part of a project with the mandela name is an honour. it was the first time i have won the race and the greatest achievement of the year,” he said. the 28 year old seme said becoming the third winner of the race was a surprise to him. “i’m happy and this shows that training hard pays. i have been training for six months and next year i’m aiming for a win. i’m happy about the race and to be part of something that has a mandela name. lastyear’swinneroftherace,brightonchipere didn’t finish the race on sunday. he threw in the towel after running 13 km and he said he was disappointed at himself. “irealisedthatiwaskillingmyself.mybody couldn’t take it anymore. i think if i had trained like last year, maybe i would have made it to the finish,” said chipere. the first female runner was chiyedza choroke who was followed by her sister lizih choroke. the fourth place was taken by winile mnisi and the fifth by cary ann smith.