Athletes brace for ZB Bank half-marathon

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
ALL is set for the second edition of the ZB Bank 21,1km event set for the Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) this morning.
ZB had their inaugural half marathon in Harare last year and this time around they will have the event in the City of Kings and Queens with some of the top athletes in the country set to take part.

The race will also include the 10km and 5km contests and will start and finish at BAC.

Bulawayo Athletics Board (Bab) chairperson Watson Madanyika said all is in place ahead of the event.

“We are raring to go. So far we have over 300 athletes who have registered across all the events. The number should increase this morning as we will allow late entries before the event kicks off at 6am. The registration fee is US$20,” said Madanyika.

Last year, Liam Savari won the men’s race in 1 hour 17 minutes and 03 seconds to beat Marlon Tauzeni (1 hour 18 minutes 35 seconds), in second place.

Lorna Doorman was in a class of her own in the women’s category after she crossed the line in 1 hour 34 minutes and was more than 10 minutes ahead of Patricia Chikambura who clocked 1 hour 45 minutes 33 seconds, in second place.

Meanwhile, preparations for the White City Stars Academy track and field championships set for 16 October are well on course.

Events on offer will be 100m, 110m hurdles, 200m, 400m, 400m hurdles, 800m, 1 500m, 3 000m, 5 000m, 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, long jump, triple jump, high jump, javelin, shot put, and discus.

Entry fees are pegged at US$3 for the relays, US$2 for the seniors, and US$1 for the juniors. The previous editions of the competition have seen sponsorship from Zimbabwe’s former triple jump record holder Ndabazihle Mdlongwa and Arnold Payne’s Africa Children’s Hope Foundation.

Mobile network operator Econet has also in the past chipped in with T-shirts and other accessories. The club held its first event in 2021 which attracted more than 100 competitors from Bulawayo, Matabeleland North, and Matabeleland South.

In the last two years, athletes from around Zimbabwe have attended the competition which continues to grow.