adminSibanda clocked 2 hours 23 minutes ahead of Millen Matende and Lyno Muchena who came in second and third respectively on 2 hours 24 minutes and 2 hours 25 minutes.
Winners of the full marathon for both men and women walked away with $600, second placed got $420 with the bronze medal winner getting $350.
Athletes finishing inside 300 each got a t-shirt and a medal.
Also making appearance was this year’s Comrades Marathon top ten finisher, Marko Mambo who finished on position 5 after clocking 2 hours 32 minutes.
Zimbabweans dominated the race taking positions 1 to 6. Position 7 was taken by an American, Hari Iyer who clocked 2 hours 41.2 seconds.
On the other hand, Winile Msini from Swaziland won the female marathon after she crossed the finish line in 3 hours 12 minutes.
There were three athletes from United States of America one from Zambia and one from Swaziland.
Tawapo Bhiri and Minika Kativhu, the two Zimbabweans in the top three crossed the finish line on 3 hours 24 minutes and 3 hours 22 minutes respectively.
The men’s half marathon was won by Elmore Sibanda who clocked 1 hour 5 minutes in a race that was dominated by Zimbabweans who took position 1 to 10.
Sibanda came sixth in the same race last year and he beat the previous winner Kelvin Pangiso who came second.
Pangiso clocked 1 hour 5 minutes 58 seconds and came second in the tightly contested race. Jonathan Chinyoka came third on 1 hour 6 minutes.
In the wheel chair category, Edmund Makutya of Zimbabwe won the male category when he arrived in 1 hour 40 minutes.
He was followed by Alexander Mlandla who clocked 1 hour 43 seconds.
Memory Gumbo won the female wheelchair category when she crossed the finishing line on 2 hours 12 minutes followed by Moline Muza who clocked 2 hours 42 minutes. The race attracted close to 800 local, regional and international athletes from 23 countries.
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t is also now one of the qualifying events for the 2013 Two Oceans and Comrades marathons that are held in South Africa.
Econet Wireless chief marketing officer, Isaiah Nyangari said the marathon will be bigger next year.
“We are very delighted with the event. We had athletes from 23 countries and this is very good for the marketing of the country as the preferred tourist destination. We are definitely coming back next year, bigger and better,” he said.
Guest of honour, permanent secretary in the Ministry of Tourism and Hospitality Industry, Margret Sangarwe said she was encouraged by the level of transformation which the marathon was going through.
Online Reporter