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SEASONED athletics coach Benson Chauke believes there is room for improvement for marathon runner Tendai Zimuto despite missing the qualifying time for the World Championships over the weekend.
Zimuto took part in the TCS Amsterdam Marathon on Sunday and finished 10th in 2 hours 9 minutes 43 seconds.
He is one of the marathon runners earmarked by the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe to try and qualify for the World Championships in Tokyo, Japan next year.
“Running under 2:10 in two consecutive international marathons is a sign that the potential is there.
“But also considering that this is his second international marathon and probably was the fourth or fifth marathon if we were to consider the two CBZ marathons he ran, one Victoria Falls, one Enschede, and this one, it would make them five.
“At five marathons in three years, we cannot say his legs are tried and tested in the event. But you can see that at his age in terms of biological age and in terms of training age, he is still young,” said Chauke.
He was chasing a qualifying time of 2 hours 6 minutes 30 seconds for the men’s marathon.
Chauke said there is room for improvement considering the times he has posted in two major races this year.
Zimuto competed at the Enschede Marathon in April, in the Netherlands where he completed the race in 2 hours 9 minutes 30 seconds.
Initially, he finished fourth but was upgraded to third place after some disqualification.
“To run under 2:10 twice, he is now the second person from Isaac Mpofu, who can easily run under 2:10 consistently, which means the potential is there.
“The performance, the time is quite competitive. It’s not an easy time for Zimbabweans. It has not been obtained more often by many people in Zimbabwe.
“Some just got it once in their lifetime and they retired and for some, they get it more often. So, if someone attains such a time once or if someone attains it more than once in a year, there is great potential that we are on the right trajectory.”
However, the seasoned coach noted that chasing the qualifying time is a demanding task.
“But marathon being what it is and the kind of preparations that it demands, there is a lot that the athlete himself is yet to learn about the event because remember its 2 hours 6 minutes that we want and we are doing 2 hours 9 minutes so far.
“And we were able to do it in April and do it in October, which is fair. I believe it’s a good sign, it’s a good performance. It’s good in that it shows where we are going and where we are.
“We would have loved to qualify. That is what we want.
“But the road to qualification requires a lot of other factors to be in the right place at the right time to get such results because the demands that are now required to enable the athlete to pull, to push himself to get there are probably beyond what the athletes by themselves can put together.
“All I am trying to say is looking at other people, looking at other athletes, you will realise that people that run under 2:10 more often, those people are coming from backgrounds where there is a lot of support,” Chauke said.
The deadline for qualification, for a marathon is May 4, 2025.
Online Reporter