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The 30-year-old said the win came as a surprise as he was just coming from another marathon in South Africa.
“The race was tough for the first 35km but I managed to hang on and I was feeling some pain because I just came from another marathon in South Africa. When I came here I was just trying to get into the top three but to my surprise I won.
“I just told myself when I was in South Africa that it has been long since I competed at home and I realised that the people are not running that fast. I feel great, I am very happy,” said Soza.
Michael Ngaseke came second with a time of 2 hours 27 minutes 14 seconds followed by Kudakwashe Kanduna who crossed the finish line in 2 hours 28 minutes 58 seconds.
Ngaseke and Kanduna got US$750 and US$500 respectively for their efforts. Veteran female long-distance runner Tabitha Tsatsa asserted her status as one of the top runners in this country when she scooped the women’s title by crossing the finish line in 3 hours 2 minutes 40 seconds.
Tsatsa got US$1 500 for winning the women’s race.
Lizzie Chokore clocked 3 hours 2 minutes 41 seconds to finish second.
Tsatsa was also won the women’s Veterans category ahead of Samkeliso Moyo who finished third in the Open category in 3 hours 2 minutes 41 seconds. Moyo came second in the women’s Veterans section while Anne Hulbert came third in 3 hours 42 minutes 50 seconds.
Tsatsa and her training partners Chokore and Moyo were using yesterday’s race to prepare for the Two Oceans ultra-marathon event to be run on March 30 in South Africa and she said it was more of a training event.
“It’s in preparation for the Two Oceans marathon and it was not very tough. We were just pushing each other the three of us.
“The weather was nice and the course as well. We were just training and I feel very good,” said Tsatsa.
Jonathan Chinyoka was crowned champion in the 21km race in 1 hour 6 minutes 51 seconds and he got US$500. Edwin Chimhomho was second with a time of 1 hour 7 minutes 19 seconds and Jacob Mugomeri clocked 1 hour 7 minutes 28 seconds to settle for third place.
In the men’s Veterans race, Patrick Chipoyi clinched the title in 2 hours 46 minutes 32 seconds while Shepherd Maziriri came second in 3 hours 17 minutes 26 seconds and Quinlan finished third with a time of 3 hours 33 minutes 4 seconds.
Jethro Thebe won the grandmasters title in a time of 3 hours 11 minutes 50 seconds ahead of Peter Ncube and Ian Clarke.
Fran Foggin was the only participant in the women’s grandmasters section where she clocked 4 hours 37 minutes 48 seconds.
Elford Moyo claimed the wheelchair men’s 21km race in 2 hours 19 minutes 2 seconds after he had some problems with his wheelchair.
Margaret Bangajena claimed the women’s title in 1 hour 37 minutes 51 seconds and Magadaline Madzivire came second in 1 hour 49 minutes 8 seconds. The event also included 10km and 5km races.
The Roger Brackley race is run by the Harare Athletics Club and is held in commemoration of the life of the late Roger Brackley who was a commercial pilot with Air Zimbabwe. Brackley ran eight Comrades Marathon events before he was diagnosed of cancer and was determined to get his green number so he bravely fought it and continued training.
He ran his ninth and final Comrades in 1995 at the age of 58 achieving his yellow number in the process which the Comrades Association awarded as his permanent number in perpetuity.
This year’s event was sponsored by Old Mutual and Old Mutual Shared Services managing director, Simon Hammond, said they were impressed by the turnout of athletes in yesterday’s race.
“As the sponsor of this event, we at Old Mutual are naturally excited by today’s participation by athletes from all walks of life. The enthusiasm exuded by participants serves to reassure us that this sponsorship is indeed a worthy cause for the community.
“Our investment in sport is not just for fun as we genuinely believe that this is a domain that presents great opportunities for our people. For too long our people were primarily focused on the academic to the detriment of development of God-given talents in sports. It is only recently that our country has woken to the fact that sport can be a gateway to a successful and healthy life,” Hammond said.
Online Reporter