Naitembu, Iipinge top Victory Races

JOHANNES Naitembu and Helena Iipinge each received N$10 000 after being crowned as the overall men’s and women’s winners of the 21km Old Mutual Victory Races series at the awards ceremony in Windhoek on Wednesday.

According to the rules of the series, the overall category winners were determined by taking the two best times of an athlete in the series. Athletes had to participate in the final in Windhoek and at least one other event of the series.The Oshakati-based Naitembu won two of the three events in Oshakati and Swakopmund and finished third at the final event in Windhoek to claim the overall first prize of N$10 000.Frans Hosea finished second overall to claim N$5 000 while Mynhard Kauanivi finished third overall to win N$2 500.The women’s competition was a close affair as Iipinge just pipped Beata Naigambo to the prize. Despite the fact that Naigambo won two of the races in Windhoek and Swakopmund, while Iipinge only won one race in Oshakati and recorded two second places, Iipinge’s top two combined times were slightly faster than that of Naigambo.Naigambo won N$5 000 for coming second, while Otilie Aimwata won N$2 500 for coming third overall.Besides the prize money that they received, Old Mutual will also assist Naitembu and Iipinge with travel and accommodation expenses to attend the Two Oceans Marathon in Cape Town, South Africa, in 2010.Werner Nghipopi and Lavinia Haitope excelled in the junior male and female categories with each athlete winning all three legs of the series. Both athletes received N$10 000 and have now been selected to enter a professional development programme administered by the Frank Fredericks Foundation.It was the ninth year that the popular Victory Races Series had taken place, with Old Mutual’s total sponsorship this year amounting to just under N$300 000. Close to 1 000 athletes participated in this year’s three legs.Old Mutual’s Human Resources Executive Maurentzia Gertze said that Old Mutual was committed to investing in the success of Namibia’s people and that the Victory Race series provided an opportunity to reach out into the communities.’The Old Mutual Victory Races Series will retain and expand its unique social development quality through the talent scouting process at each race. We are committed to constantly bringing promising young athletes to the national final and to choose two athletes to enter a professional development programme,’ she added.