Only two athletes have been selected to represent the country in the Gaborone City Marathon that gets underway on March 18.

Athletics Tanzania’s (AT) assistant secretary general Julius Msomi named the duo as Daudi Joseph and Farida Gausi who board the Gaborone-bound flight on Wednesday.

Msomi said AT decided to send only two athletes due to lack of funds to meet return flights and other associated expenditures.

The competition has been sanctioned by the Association of International Marathoners and distance races (AIM). The show is also taken as a qualifying stage for the Commonwealth Games to be staged later in October in India.

Msomi said the marathon is staged as a charity whose proceeds would be channeled into heart patients in the host country.

Most of the continent’s top ranked marathoners from Kenya and Ethiopia are expected to take part in the show, thus a perfect stage for the Dar athletes to gauge their skills.

Meanwhile, AT has thanked all athletes who took part in last week’s Ngorongoro Tigo marathon.

AT secretary general Suleiman Nyambui said the event attracted more than 500 competitors in the event aimed at eradicating malaria in the country.

He said the competition was graced by Zanzibar Chief Minister Shamsi Vuai Nahodha, who acknowledged the move as useful to do away with malaria.

Nyambui expressed his sincere appreciation to sponsors who supported the marathon show.