City marathon set for July

for the inaugural event to be held in Harare in July.
The race is set for July 17 and is expected to promote the spirit of endurance, fitness, friendship and fun. The event is being organised by the X-HIBI-IT Management Company (Pvt) Ltd.
The company’s director, Rebecca Gambiza, said registration will start next month.
“We are starting registration for the marathon on the 1st of May and we have set June 30 as the deadline for registration. This is a platform to bring athletes of different age groups together. We are going to have athletes from schools,” said Gambiza. However, the organisers appealed to sponsors for assistance to host the event.
“We still need sponsors to come and support the event, we are appealing to the corporate world to come on board,” said Gambiza. The Sunshine City marathon is expected to feature some of the best local athletes and participants from the Sadc region and beyond.
Meanwhile, eight athletes from Mr Pace Athletics Club are in South Africa for the Two Oceans marathon in Durban this weekend. The 56km race is pencilled for Saturday and will feature athletes from across the world. The eight athletes include Collen Makaza, Kelvin Pangiso, Paul Mhizha, Jonathan Chinyoka, Robson Chigova, Kingston Maringe, Tapiwa Chingadayi and Catherine Nyak-ushira. The team is currently training in Durban to acclimatise with the environment ahead of Saturday’s event. Chinyoka and Pangiso will take participate in the 21km race while the rest will compete in the 56km race.
However, the spotlight will be on Makaza who won last year’s IAU 50km World Trophy held in Ireland. The long-distance runner, who was taking part in the event for the first time, wrote his own piece of history when he ran 2hours 47minutes 21seconds to win the race.
He also participated in the Two Oceans last year and finished in 12th place. Mr Pace club manager, Wonder Choto, said they were hoping for good res-ults from the athletes as most of them are seasoned competitors.
“Most of the guys left last week for South Africa while Collen left yesterday (Tue-sday). We are expecting them to do well especially Collen as well as Pangiso in the 21km race.
“Last year he was in the top 10 when he competed in the same race. All of them have been participating in international events and have the potential to finish in the top 10,” said Choto.