* Participants who were already registered to collect their race kits at their Head Office, City Centre in Lilongwe
* On Saturday, July 13 and Monday, July 15 from 8am-4pm and on Friday, July 19 from 8am-7pm
* And to take with them the registration receipts as proof
By Duncan Mlanjira
The Standard Bank Be More Race — which was scheduled for July 15 but was postponed in respect to the mourning period for the departed souls of Vice-President Saulos Chilima, former First Lady Madam Shanil Muluzi and 7 others, who tragically died in the plane crash on June 10 — is now set for July 20.
Advertisement
The announcement from Standard Bank Plc advises participants who were already registered to collect their race kits at their Head Office, City Centre in Lilongwe on Saturday, July 13 and Monday, July 15 from 8am-4pm and on Friday, July 19 from 8am-7pm — and to take with them the registration receipts as proof.
A regular figure to be greatly missed for this edition would be late Saulos Chilima, who had been gracing the event as a runner since its inception in 2017 and he would probably be given a special mention.
The Be More Race is Standard Bank Plc’s flagship health wellness event whose proceeds are towards charity and as was his tradition, Chilima could have participated in it as he had done in previous editions.
In his eulogy of his late father during his State Funeral at Bingu National Stadium, Sean Chilima shared that apart from being very dedicated to great work ethic work and his devotion to his faith, his father was indeed a fitness enthusiast.
He told the gathering of people from all walks of life, including President Lazarus Chakwera and foreign dignitaries, that his father would start his day early with prayers at an altar in his house, then join the 6:00am Mass at the church then exercise before starting his official work.
And taking advantage of his routine fitness gym work-out in 2017, the basketball and golf enthusiast joined the inaugural race and the media reported then that he applauded the health wellness initiative, saying it was unique opportunity for him to be part of history where “road meets nature in a race”.
“It’s the first time, not just in Malawi but across the continent, where road meets nature in a race,” he had said in an interview with journalists. “So it’s a unique opportunity for us to be part of history.
“As a fitness person, I like to exercise and this morning instead of exercising alone, I thought I should join other people and be part of the fun.”
Advertisement
He encouraged Malawians to keep fit and maintain their health by nurturing themselves through regular exercise: “You see, good health is also one’s wealth and so one has to invest in their own life — one has to invest in their own health.
“It’s extremely important that as human beings we must invest in our bodies — God given bodies perhaps are best asset we must look after them and make sure that we live long,” he had said.
Chilima later became one of the high-profile individuals who were part of the official inauguration, including the then Minister of Sports Francis Kasaira in 21km; former Minister of Justice & Constitutional Affairs, Samuel Tembenu (10km); former Lilongwe City Mayor, Desmond Bikoko; academic LUANAR Prof. Emmanuel Kaunda; former Standard Bank Chief Executive, Andrew Mashanda and other prominent professionals.
This was in solidarity of the race’s goal to raise funds for wellness of the Girl Child while at the same time promoting health wellness.
The Be More Race 2024 proceeds will be channeled towards supporting the children’s Cancer Learning Centre of the Kamuzu Central Hospital (KCH) in Lilongwe and speaking at Bingu National Stadium during the first city aerobics session in preparation for the main race, Head of Brand & Marketing, Tamanda Ng’ombe said by supporting KCH’s learning centre at KCH’s children’s cancer ward, the Bank is fulfilling its traditional role of channelling proceeds from the race towards the country’s education sector.
“Traditionally, funds raised from the race go towards supporting education in the formal sector,” she said. “After recent years of successfully partnering the Ministry of Education to support education, we have decided to support the education of children undergoing cancer treatment and rehabilitation at Kamuzu Central Hospital.
“Their learning centre lacks learning resources, and we have seen it fit to intervene by using our annual race as a fund-raising platform.”
The flagship athletics and wellness event engages existing and potential customers, key stakeholders, and communities through a key uniting passion point — sport.
It had a two-year break following the CoVID-19 pandemic and on its return in 2022, it was celebrated under the theme ‘Road 2 Recovery’ and was also used to raise funds to support academic pursuit for the girl-child at Lilongwe Girls Secondary School through construction of hostels.
Last year’s edition, under the theme ‘Level Up’, aimed to motivate Malawians to exert themselves further to achieve wellness and good health and to challenge people to achieve more as Malawi was recovering from the devastating effects of Cyclone Freddy-induced flood disaster — which resonated with President Lazarus Chakwera’s #Operation Tigwirane Manja#.
The theme of this year’s race is ‘Why We Run’, which urges marathon enthusiasts to join the race with an underlying motivation to assist children suffering from cancer. —Background report on Chilima done in 2017 by FD Communications
Advertisement