THE second edition of the NetOne Albun Honde Valley Marathon returns next month amid expectations of a high turnout given the interest it generated in its maiden voyage last year.
The marathon, which seeks to promote rural tourism as well as a culture of fitness and health in the Honde Valley and supported by leading telecommunications company NetOne, is scheduled for November 23.
Albun Fitness founder and race visionary Alois Bunjira, the legendary Caps United and Warriors forward, said they were brewing a bigger and better event that has received the call of NetOne and a wide range ofcorporates.
“This year is our second edition of the marathon. I should say that we had great success in holding the marathon last year in Honde Valley. We had 356 athletes from the anticipated 100. So we are hoping that we are going to get double that number this year because we were very successful last year,” Bunjira said during the launch of the event at Centurion Pub and Grill at Harare Sports Club yesterday.
“At the finishing point, we are going to have a business exhibition. All the companies that are partnering us will have their stands where they will be exhibiting their companies and their products. We expect that everybody who is partnering with us will be there at the end.”
Other corporates that have returned for the second edition include First Mutual Micro Finance, CAG Travelling Coaches, Drip Tech, Nepro Air, LM Auctioneers, 4 May, Sweat Field Fitness and Centurion Pub and Grill.
Others are Eastern Highlands Tea Estate, Palm Lodges, Humphrey Lodges, Valley Lodges, National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe and Priority Projects.
“We hope that this is going to be an exciting and interesting marathon. It is going to be much bigger [than last year],” Bunjira added.
“I am very confident that this year’s marathon is going to be much, much bigger than last year because we’ve done our homework. We made some mistakes last year. We have closed those gaps (this time around).”
NetOne’s representative Tino Mukuchana said partnering Albun Fitness was an easy engagement given that the marathon resonates with their brand.
“Their corporate citizenship dictates that we respond to our duty to transform and improve livelihoods by ensuring that the business uses the environment responsibly so that future generations have a clean and safe environment,” Mukuchana said.