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Ngqwele Dube, Sports Correspondent
TWO athletes were disqualified from the PPC Matopos 33-Miler after being caught attempting to cheat.
Wheelchair racer, Munyaradzi Katiyo of Epworth and Tichaona Munyikwa of Airforce Athletics Club had their results nullified after being caught to have not run the full races.
Katiyo had registered for the 21km Wheelchair event while Munyikwa was in contention for the main 53km race.
Bulawayo Athletics Board (Bab) chairman Manuel Mpofu said while the two athletes crossed the finishing line, they had already detected their shenanigans.
He said other than nullifying their results no other punishment would be meted out on the athletes.
Mpofu said both athletes admitted to the cheating and apologised for the misdemeanours.
“Katiyo was found to have started ahead of the other athletes and emerged from a thicket to join the race. He had obtained position two and had been in line to walk away with a cash prize of $250.
“Munyikwa feigned injury when he was inside the national park and asked for transport from a media crew who dropped him off at the 10km starting point and instead of seeking medical attention he decided to join the race and made it into the top 10, but we stripped him of the medal after verifying that he had not completed the full race,” he said.
Mpofu said they place officials at strategic points who would be communicating with them at the finishing line to verify that all athletes would have completed the race.
He said in some instances their officials do not make their presence obvious as they can be disguised as athletes or spectators.
“Cheating is something that we are always on the lookout for and we employ various strategies as we believe it is an act that should not be tolerated. We ensure we have good surveillance throughout the race.
“Other athletes train hard to ensure they compete with others and so we would not want to see cheats being rewarded as it would discourage sportsmanship. We are aware some will do anything just to win so we have to find ways of discouraging illegal acts,” said Mpofu.
“Katiyo claimed he was desperate for the cash while Munyikwa was reportedly seeking to impress at the Airforce but he did it the wrong way. Both athletes apologised profusely. We hope they have learnt their lesson and others will also not to try to attempt cheating as they will be caught.”
He said they are always ahead of athletes’ attempts at cheating adding because of the need to win, runners will always come up with tricks and being fair and firm would assist in ensuring every race is transparent.
Mpofu said some want to win but don’t want to put in the effort in training and as Bab they would remain vigilant.
Meanwhile, Bab will be hosting training workshops for coaches and technical officials in the city beginning Wednesday.
The International Association of Athletics Federations certified courses are expected to enhance knowledge of participants and result in improvements in the sport.
derick.khumalo