RTG Puts Nyanga on the Run With New Mountain Valley Marathon

RAINBOW Tourism Group (RTG) is taking its tourism push onto the road, launching the inaugural Mountain Valley Marathon that will see runners tackle Nyanga’s challenging terrain on September 26.

The hospitality group is targeting 1,500 participants for the maiden race, which will feature 21km, 10km and 5km categories and offer cash prizes and accommodation packages to leading athletes.

For RTG, the Mountain Valley Marathon is more than another event on Zimbabwe’s growing road running calendar. The group wants to build it into an annual sporting fixture capable of drawing athletes, recreational runners and their families to the Eastern Highlands.

RTG chief commercial officer Shupai Marware said the marathon would use sport to showcase Nyanga and surrounding areas to a wider market.

“This marathon will position the Eastern Highlands as a leading destination. We are putting the Eastern Highlands on the map as a strong complementary alternative to Victoria Falls,” Marware said at the launch in Harare yesterday.

The race will have its biggest rewards in the 21km category, where the male and female winners will each pocket US$750 and receive two nights’ accommodation for two, including meals.

The runners up will each receive US$500 and accommodation, while third placed athletes will pocket US$350 and receive meal vouchers.

The first elderly male and female finishers will each receive US$250 and meal vouchers.

In the 10km race, the top three will take home between US$150 and US$300, together with meal vouchers, while winners of the 5km race will receive two nights’ accommodation for two.

Race managing partner Kudzai Lister Pasipanodya of Musabvunda said the size of the event had grown considerably from the modest numbers initially discussed when planning started last year.

“When we started discussing the marathon last year, the first figure we had was 300 people, then it went to 500, then 1,000. Now we are talking about 1,500 people,” he said.

The projected turnout would give the inaugural event a sizeable field as RTG attempts to establish the race on the national athletics calendar.

Pasipanodya thanked the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe, Manicaland Athletics Board, Zimbabwe Republic Police and Ministry of Sport for supporting preparations for the event.

Away from the finish line, RTG is hoping every runner arriving in Nyanga will bring additional economic activity to the resort town through accommodation, food, transport and other tourism services.

Marware said sports tourism had become an important market globally and RTG wanted Zimbabwe’s Eastern Highlands to benefit from that growth.

“Sports tourism contributes 10 percent of global tourism GDP, so we are getting into a very lucrative area,” he said.

RTG has backed its Nyanga ambitions with investment in accommodation infrastructure.

The group has spent US$2 million refurbishing Montclair Resort and Conference Hotel, increasing its capacity from 85 to 110 rooms.

A separate refurbishment of Nyanga Town and Country apartments is expected to add another 80 rooms by October 1.

RTG also plans to use its Gateway Stream platform to connect marathon visitors with partner hotels in the Eastern Highlands, spreading the benefits beyond its own properties.

The group hopes the race can eventually help attract visitors during quieter periods of the tourism calendar and become an annual reason for runners to return to Nyanga.

Pacific Cigarette Company has joined the inaugural event as title sponsor through its Pacific Breeze brand.

Marketing manager Kudakwashe Chiutsi said the company viewed the marathon as another opportunity to support community activities.

“We are very proud to join RTG on this wellness campaign. We want this to be the ultimate experience,” Chiutsi said.

“We believe this will be one of the biggest marathons spoken about in Zimbabwe.”

Chiutsi also acknowledged the apparent contradiction of a cigarette company sponsoring a wellness themed sporting event.

“People will ask why we are joining a marathon as a cigarette brand. It is because we believe in supporting spaces where our communities thrive,” he said.