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THE Bulawayo Province Cross Country athletics team starts training today for the National Cross Country Championships to be held at Morris Depot, Harare on February 7.
The training session will we held at Mpopoma’s Nketa Park.
Bulawayo Athletics Board chairman Manuel Mpofu encouraged the athletes to keep up with individual training and was confident of defending their title at Morris Depot.
“We believe our selection of athletes over the past weeks was good and we’re confident we picked a strong team which comprises of nearly the same athletes we had last time. We picked almost six athletes per category and in that way we will be represented well in every race,” he said.
He also urged athletes to drink water regularly to avoid dehydration as the temperatures are unbearable.
The Province held their first qualifiers at Mpopoma Park while the second race was at Luveve High school last Sunday where 22 athletes were chosen to add on to the first selection of 26.
In Harare they will compete in four categories; the junior men and women as well as senior men and women.
Among the senior men’s team members will be John Payarira of Fairbridge who beat a field of nine athletes to win a seat at the national championships. He will travel with his teammate Trust Chidomaya and Sparrows’s Hlalani Ngwenya who came second and third respectively during the first selection.
In the senior women Sophia Chihama will be joined by Annie Chirisa, Faith Sanyika and Brenda Banda, a returnee athlete who qualified last week.
The junior men and women squad will also be at training.
The team is set to leave on February 6 for Harare and will be managed by Nkosilathi Ncube and headed by BAB vice chairperson Tivavone Gava whilst Mercy Mpofu will be the chaperone.
Online Reporter