Good turn-out at White City track event

Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter

THE Bulawayo Athletics Board (Bab) successfully held the White City Stars Academy Track and Field Championships at White City Stadium on Saturday.

The event drew a good number of athletes from Bulawayo, Midlands and Matabeleland South.

This was the competition’s fourth edition and indications are that it will be a permanent feature on the Bab calendar.

Methembe Tshuma won the men’s 100m dash in 10,53 seconds with Isaac Maphosa and Makhosi Sibanda coming second and third respectively.

Maphosa finished in 10,84 seconds while Sibanda managed a time of 11,23 seconds.

In the women’s category Irene Katiyo won in 13,33 seconds with Tadiwa Kasanhli second in a time of 13,61 seconds.

The 200m event saw Vinny Matambo get the gold medal after crossing the finish line in 23,45 seconds.

The same event was won by Thembelihle Ncube in 26,26 seconds in the women’s division.

Veteran long-distance runner Trust Chidomaya settled for second position after Mthokozisi Mhlanga grabbed first place in the 5 000m race in a time of 15 minutes 22 seconds.

Chidomaya was not too far behind finishing in 15 minutes 45 seconds.

The first position for the 800m men’s final went to Nkosinathi Ndlovu who crossed the finish line in 2 minutes 02 seconds.

Muputo Blessing won the women’s 3 000m in 13 minutes 43 seconds.

White City Stars Academy director Manuel Mpofu was happy with the event’s success.

“We had a good event with over 150 athletes taking part. For our junior athletes this was an opportunity for them to enhance their chances of qualifying for future international competitions. Special thanks to the partners we had for this event who were Econet and Sports Zone among other friends,” said Mpofu.

He said the weekend competition showed that athletes and their coaches are working hard to improve their performances.

“In athletics we say Train, Compete and Repeat. Athletes should continuously repeat the cycle to improve their performances,” said Mpofu.

In the past the competition was sponsored by Zimbabwe triple jump record holder Ndabezinhle Mdhlongwa and Arnold Payne’s Africa Children’s Hope Foundation.