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Collin Matiza
Sports Editor
AT the end of last year, two budding Zimbabwean athletes, Kevin Chiku and Faith Nyathi, received some sweet news that touched them like the joy of a child.
Chiku, from Marondera, and Nyathi, from Plumtree, were delighted to learn they had been offered four-year athletics scholarships by different colleges in Texas, United States.
Chiku and Nyathi were assisted, in getting the scholarships by former Zimbabwe middle and long-distance star runner Phillemon Hanneck, who is now based in Florida, United States.
The two athletes were expected to start their freshmanship at the beginning of this year but their joy was shortlived.
They were forced to shelve their trip to the United States following the outbreak of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Speaking from his base in Jacksonville, Florida, Hanneck told The Herald he had already secured Chiku and Nyathi athletics scholarships at different colleges in Texas.
But, said Hanneck, the two have to wait a little bit longer before they can fly out to the United States.
“I have been working on assisting Kevin Chiku from Marondera and Faith Nyathi from Plumtree in getting them athletics scholarships here in the United States which they already have but, due to the coronavirus outbreak, they cannot fly out of Zimbabwe to start their programmes,” said Hanneck.
“In fact, I have three girls who are stuck in Zimbabwe due to the coronavirus outbreak.
“They were supposed to go to colleges in Texas on athletics scholarship programmes. They are all from the rural areas and this could have been a good experience for them.
“But, this Covid-19 pandemic has delayed the whole process of bringing them here.”
Hanneck was identified at a young age in the rural areas of Marondera in Zimbabwe in the early 1990s.
Hanneck (49) is a former middle and long-distance runner who specialised in the 5 000m event.
He originally represented Zimbabwe before changing his nationality in 1999 to the United States.
A gifted runner, Hanneck won a silver medal for Zimbabwe at the 1994 Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada, and finished 10th in the 1 500m event at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics in Gothenburg, Sweden.
His personal best time was 13:14.50, achieved in June 1994 in Rome, Italy.
He is the course record holder at the Manchester Road Race in Manchester, England.
He won the race in 1994 and 1995, setting the course record in 1995 with a time of 21:19 on the 4.748 mile (7.641 km) course.
Hanneck also holds the course records for the BOclassic 10km race in Bolzano, Italy, having won with a time of 28:02.1 in 1991, and the Marin Marin Memorial Day Races 10km, held in Kentfield California, USA, with a time of 28:45 in 1994.
Hanneck was the 1993 winner of the Emsley Carr Mile. He holds the event record of the Gasparilla Distance Classic’s 15km road race held in Tampa, Florida, USA. on February 26, 1994.
He set that mark at Gasparilla with his time of 42:35.
At one stage Hanneck was a holder of five Zimbabwean records — 1500m 3:35; 3 000m (7:42mile) 3:53; 5000m 13:14 and 15km 42 minutes and 35 seconds.
Online Reporter