Two Namibian emerging athletes, Uveni-Nawa Kuugongelwa and Lavinia Haitope, were the winners in the 1st leg of the Old Mutual Victory Race that took place in Keetmanshoop on Saturday.

Kuugongelwa displayed some blustery performances to snatch 1st place in the men's 21-km race in a remarkable time of 1:08.14-seconds, closely followed by Paulus Iyambo in second-place who clocked a commendable time of 1:08.31-seconds, while Simon Shipingana came in at third-place with a not-so disappointing time of 1:08.45-seconds.

In the women's 21-km race, Lavinia Haitope crossed the finish line in a time of 1:18.57-seconds to comfortably clinch 1st place, with the much-improved Alina Armos finishing in 1:19.45-seconds to claim second-place, while Anna Amikoto had to be satisfied with a third-place finish after she crossed the line in 1:20.10-seconds to complete the top-three lineup.

In the junior category, Julian Fryman was the deserving winner in the male category when he clocked 1:14.16-seconds, while Bonnifasius Cooper finished in second-place after finishing with a time of 1:19.46-seconds, followed by Sylvanus Stoffel in third-place in a time of 1:20.10-seconds.

In the senior category (40+ age group), Daniel Suzuki was the winner in a time of 1:40.8-seconds, trailed by Frans Anderson who finished with a time of 1:52.41-seconds, while in third-place was Albertius Brand who finished in 1:59.1-second.

The second-leg of the race will resume on the 30th of this month at the Swakopmund Athletics Stadium in Swakopmund.