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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
WITH just three days before the World Athletics Championships burst into life, Team Zimbabwe coach Benson Chauke has declared his athletes ready for the global show-piece.
Chauke feels they have done their best to ensure the team is ready to leave a mark at the Championships which will come to life on Saturday in Budapest, Hungary.
Zimbabwe will be represented in the marathon races for both men and women and in the 200m sprint.
First to plunge into competition for Zimbabwe will be United States-based sprinter Tapiwa Makarawu who take his bow in the 200m.
The heats for the 200m event are scheduled for August 23.
Seasoned female long distance runner Fortunate Chidzivo will then take to the road for the women’s marathon on August 26.
The small Team Zimbabwe contingent wind up their Budapest sojourn when the pair of Isaac Mpofu and Ngonidzashe Ncube compete in the men’s marathon on the final day of the Championships.
Chauke, who is in charge of the long distance runners said they had made the most of their limited resources.
The National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe and the Zimbabwe Olympic Committee funded the team’s camp in Harare.
“All I can say with what we had and the support that we had, we have done our best in the preparations for the build-up to give them (athletes) an opportunity to go and showcase their God-given talent.
“It is our hope that when they go there, if things work together they can do well,” Chauke said.
“It’s every coach’s desire to see their athletes go out there and do their best as they represent themselves and their country.
“So on the technical side we have done our best based on what we have. Our preparations have been based on the resources we have, and based on what we had, we have done the best we can, considering our financial resources, and all the support we got, that’s what we managed.
“It could have been better if the support was more but we will not focus on what we did not get but from what we got we did the best we could.
So it is our hope that we go there and do our best as we go against the world’s best,” said Chauke.
The marathon runners have been camped in Harare for more than a month now and they will this week be putting final touches to their preparations before they fly out to Budapest.
But Makarawu is expected to fly out from his United States base today and will link up in Budapest with NAAZ team leader Lisimati Phakamile tomorrow.
“So the issue is that we have done the best technically in terms of what we were hoping for, our splits.
“So we are in the final phases of tapering, there isn’t much that we are doing now, it’s just trying to maintain certain levels of performance, certain levels of fitness and to prepare them now psychologically to say this is the task at hand.
“I think the support that they need now is just to be appreciated, to be encouraged, to be motivated. So motivation does not only come from the coach, motivation comes from Zimbabwe as a nation,” Chauke said.
Mpofu, who is the leading athlete among the three marathon runners based on his performance is positive of the work they have done.
“Mostly in a marathon we work on different areas, the strength, the physical fitness, speed, endurance and the basic exercises to balance up the body, flexibility and agility. Those are the key areas which we were focusing on with the coach.
“And hopefully we did great on that,” said Mpofu.
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