adminEllina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
HARARE province athletics coach, Omega Kakora, believes they will retain their title when they take part in today’s National Cross-Country championships at Kadoma Sports Club.
The competition will feature both seniors and juniors and will be used to select a team that will represent Zimbabwe at the Southern Africa Region championships in Malawi on February 21.
Kakora said they have a strong team made up of seasoned long-distance runners, including Olivia Chitate, who missed the provincial championships due to an injury two weeks ago.
“We have managed to have a full complement of the team that is travelling tomorrow (today) to Kadoma. We have 24 athletes — 12 juniors and 12 seniors.
“We have the usual runners, the likes of Kelvin Pangiso, Wellington Chidodo, Tendai Zimuto and Gilbert Mutandiro.
“In the women’s section we have Olivia Chitate, she has fully recovered and I think she will be able to compete. We also have Constance Nyasango, those are some of our athletes we are taking.
“We have a strong team that we hope will do well, but we don’t rule out surprises from other provinces because they have also been preparing for this event.
“Every province wants to beat us but we hope we will give them a good run,” said Kakora.
National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe vice president, Enias Nhoro, said they were taking today’s event seriously and those that fail to compete will not be considered for the national team.
“All provinces are coming to take part as it is very important because athletes that are going to win will compete in the Southern Africa Region Cross-Country championships in Malawi.
“So we are not taking anyone who would not have competed in our selection event.
“There is no better athlete than the other, they can only prove that when they compete with other athletes.
“We are past that stage when there were automatic places for athletes, if they miss the event they will not go to the regional championships.
“In addition they will also find themselves not going for the World Championships in March to be held in China.
“We will pick four athletes in three of the categories, that’s the Under-20 boys and girls and the senior women’s section.
“In the men’s senior category we will have six athletes to make a team because you will not score points if you take less than that number for the regional championships,” said Nhoro.
Nhoro said they were looking forward to a competitive event.
“This time we have a lot of competition, we cannot predict who is going to be the winner until after the event because every athlete wants to go for the World Championships and they know this is the route,” said Nhoro.
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