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Ellina Mhlanga–Senior Sports Reporter
TRUST Hove and Phillipa Dube were yesterday crowned champions in the men’s and women’s categories of the CBZ Marathon at Old Georgians Sports Club.
Hove of Cadence Club was the first to cross the finish line in 2 hours 25 minutes 55 seconds in the men’s section.
He was followed home by seasoned runner Mike Fokorani of Nedbank with a time of 2 hours 28 minutes 7 seconds and Mr Pace’s Lyno Muchena was third in 2 hours 32 minutes 9 seconds.
Hove said it was encouraging to emerge the winner against some of the seasoned athletes in the country.
“It was a tough competition because it was my second marathon and I was competing against seasoned athletes such as Mike Fokorani and Lyno Muchena, so it was tough. But I managed to win.
“It’s a big achievement because this is my second marathon and it shows that I have a future in marathon. My wish is to qualify for the World Championships.
“I am hoping to run in South Africa, on a different course, just to see how I perform and try to improve my time, maybe I can qualify.
“I believe I can improve in the future because I am just starting, I am still to gain experience, but I managed to win so I am excited,” said the 30-year-old Hove.
In the women’s section, ZRP’s Dube came first in 3 hours 8 minutes 9 seconds.
For their efforts, Hove and Dube received ZWL$110 000 each.
Annie Chirisa, also from ZRP, settled for second position in 3 hours 9 minutes 42 seconds, followed by Rutendo Mapindu on third place in 3 hours 17 minutes 27 seconds.
Dube, who is based in Bulawayo, was competing in her second marathon after graduating from the 21km races and was delighted with the outcome from yesterday’s race.
“I am the happiest person today because when I came here, I didn’t expect to win because there are more experienced athletes that could have won this race but today I managed to win so I am very happy.
“It was tough, it was not that easy but the group I was running with motivated me.
“This is my second marathon. My first was the Binga marathon in October 2021 and I came second,” said Dube.
Interestingly, her training partner Chirisa, who came second, was also competing in her first marathon.
“The race was very tough considering that it was my first time to run a marathon. So it was very tough for me. I didn’t know the tactics . . . I was just running, so it was tough, it wasn’t easy.
“I feel so great because I came second. I came here as part of my training, I thought this race was part of my training, I wasn’t expecting to finish second.
“This race has motivated me so I am going to train harder and compete in more marathon races.
“We train together (with Dube). During the race we were pushing each other but obviously in a race there should be number one and number two because we all cannot be winners,” said Chirisa.
Munyaradzi Jari won the men’s 21km in 1 hour 5 minutes 34 seconds. The women’s title went to Caroline Mhandu with a time of 1 hour 18 minutes 41 seconds.
The 21km wheelchair race for men was won by veteran athlete Elford Moyo in 1 hour 9 minutes 55 seconds.
Stella Jongwe claimed the top spot in the women’s section in 1 hour 32 minutes 1 second.
Winners in the 21km Open and Wheelchair race got ZWL$55 000.
Online Reporter