He was thanking the 2013 Comrades Marathoners who made it with flying colours from Gauteng Province, during the Comrades Marathon held in Durban last week.
In his keynote address, Maile said these athletes have once again put the province of Gauteng on the sporting front.
“Competing in Comrades is like achieving your PHD, because it’s the highest honour and this is what we must tell our future athletes, what it means to win or partake in this important marathon in the country,” he said.
“Honouring our stars when they’ve done well should be a norm in this province of Champions, and as government, we will always give them attention.
“In the next three year’s I promise to also partake in this prestigious marathon,” he said with a serious tone.
Claude Moshiywa, 2013 Comrades winner and others who finished top in respective categories were honoured with trophies, including Blinds who finished the race. Amazing!
“What more does one has to say, when you’re honoured by the respectable figure?” asked Moshiywa.
I’m happy and would cherish this moment once again,” he said following the reception with Minister of Sport Fikile Mbalula, in Cape Town earlier this week.
James Moloi from Central Gauteng Athletics boasted that Gauteng had more entrants with close to 40,800 athletes entering the marathon.
“This goes to show how we in Gauteng take athletics so serious.”
