The fourth installment of the annual ‘My Maun Experience’ (MME) got a boost last week when reports emerged that Members of Parliament for Maun, Kgosi Tawana Moremi and Kosta Markus will participate in the event, which is scheduled for December 2015.
Kgosi Tawana is no stranger to MME, having actively participated in previous installments of the week long holiday bonanza. In 2014 he took part in both the MME Breakfast Run and the MME cycling events, where he also presented awards to the winners. This year Kgosi Tawana will take part in the first MME motorbike race, slated for Wednesday December 30.
“The inaugural motocross competition, featuring riders from Maun and other parts of the country, will start in the morning and continue into the afternoon,” says organiser Dose Mosimanyane.
Maun East MP Kosta Markus will patronise the 12 km Breakfast Run, which will start at Maun Lodge early in the morning of Sunday, December 27. The race will be followed by a prize giving ceremony over breakfast at the hotel. South African athlete Jerry Motsau took part in last year’s race alongside local icons Nigel Amos and Amantle Montsho.
“The participation of Jerry Motsau (RSA) and Nijel Amos in last year’s race has sparked a lot of interest from their colleagues and training partners in South Africa. Enquiries have already started coming in for details of the next race and we expect more international runners at this year’s event,” said Mosimanyane.
Maun based attorney Lawrence Lecha will be the official patron of the 2nd annual MME Mountain Bike Race whose distance has been increased from the initial 30 km race in 2014 to 50 km this festive season. Tops Ledimo will kick off the MME events with a football tournament that will also include a training camp for children between ages 9-16, conducted by former Zebras striker Dipsy Selolwane and friends. The camp will also include former Zebras players and one former Bafana Bafana player.
“The camp will be followed by a five-a-side tournament on Boxing Day involving Maun local teams captained by Dipsy and friends against corporate teams from other parts of Botswana,” said Mosimanyane.
Patrons and captains of the various events will later get together with other participants to partake in a number of social responsibility projects that will benefit the Maun community. These will range from clean up campaigns, hospital visits, donating of clothes to the less privileged as well as distribution of life jackets to be used during mokoro trips and boat rides.
“We are concerned by the increasing number of deaths in our rivers,” said Mosimanyane.
He encouraged other stakeholders like the North West District Council, Maun business community and Dikgosi to partner with them to make the event a success. MME is organised by Bissau Gaobakwe’s 63 Entertainment and Mosimanyane’s D.O.C Entertainment in partnership with Dipsy Selolwane and Mogani Selawe. As part of preparations for this year’s event, the organisers will host an activation event at i-Towers (CBD) sometime in December.
