MBABANE – Royal Eswatini Police Service’s (REPS) Mancoba Nhlabatsi will not be featuring in any 42km races this year.
This comes after a decision he made during the recently-concluded Resolution Run, which was staged at the Mlilwane Wildlife Sanctuary on Saturday.
Nhlabatsi won the 21km, which was the longest distance offered by the Lactalis Eswatini-sponsored race.
The REPS athlete crossed the line in 01:15:00 hours. Nhlabatsi, when reached for comment after the race, stated that he plans to step down from the marathon to the half-marathon.
“My target this year is to downgrade from the 42km to the 21km because I feel like I have lost a bit of confidence in the 42km. That is why I have chosen to step down,” remarked Nhlabatsi.
He added that he was having a hard time running the distance, which is why he has opted to downgrade.
Meanwhile, it is worth mentioning that Nhlabatsi is regarded as the ‘King of Marathons’ in the country, a status, that he earned when he won the Imbube Marathon in 2024.
He was the overall winner of the main race, which was the 42km and was the first liSwati, which saw him earn E70 000 for the double achievement.
Consequently, government last year enrolled him into a six-month long distance scholarship, where he was based in Lesotho for the last three months of 2025.
Meanwhile, coming back to the first domestic marathon, Lactalis Eswatini Marketing Officer Lucky Phiri declared that the 2026 edition of the Resolution Run was a success, applauding all those who made it a possibility.
“We had over 650 racers and our target is to make sure that the participation numbers get to the 650 mark and that is why we can say this year’s event was a success. As Lactalis, we are particular about conservation, which deals with nature and wildlife,” expressed Phiri.
*Full article available on Pressreader*
Leave a comment