daniel chigunwe
Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
WITH a few days to go before the National Cross Country Championships take place, defending champions Harare are hopeful of retaining the title.
The event is scheduled for Saturday at Alan Lowry Golf Club, Redcliff.
All provinces are expected to field their senior and junior (Under-20) athletes.
The senior men and women will compete in a 10km race. The Under-20 boys and girls will take part in 8km and 6km respectively.
Harare Athletic Board had its team selection event a few weeks ago and the team includes the likes of Wellington Varevi, Patience Garauzive, and Jonathan Chinyoka.
They have been training at the National Sports Stadium B Arena and coach Collen Makaza is upbeat that they will retain the title.
“I think we are ready and I think we will retain our championship. We have the likes of Wellington Varevi, Jonathan Chinyoka, Patience Garauzive, and Miriam Sibanda.
“Those are the top athletes and we think they can win the race and qualify for the World Cross Country Champion-ships. So we are just waiting for the day.
“Harare always wins these championships and these are top athletes. Also in the junior girls we have got the likes of Brenda Njodzi, and in the junior men we have got Blessing Sipanela. So we have got quite several top athletes who are on our team.
“So we are hoping to have good results and good performance,” said Makaza.
Makaza said they would have wanted to field more athletes in the seniors but some of them have other commitments.
“Our team was affected in the seniors because our seniors have got another event, the one in Kazungula which will be on Saturday, and other races. But we have some who are ready for it.
“We have been training for the past three weeks. The team was meeting every Tuesday and Thursday. So tomorrow will be our last day to meet as a team. We are prepared, even for our juniors, we are ready for it.”
Midlands Athletics Board chairperson Partson Muderedzi said they have had an encouraging response from the provinces.
“On preparations, I think on the ground everything is looking good. We are now ready to receive our visitors.
“Roughly from the entries I am getting from provinces, we are getting between 10 and 20 athletes per province. It’s not a game of numbers, you can bring a small team and then end up winning or bring a small team which is one of the best teams,” said Muderedzi.
The hosts are, however, set to field a bigger team.
“We are hosting, so our team is between 20 and 30 athletes…The problem was that when we had our provincial team selection event, most of these good athletes came from long distances, they come from rural areas. So we had a dis-advantage in that most of them didn’t turn up because schools were just opening.
“So we didn’t get a good turnout from rural areas . . . But we are ready to compete also.”
Harare Team
Senior Men: Wellington Varevi, Johnathan Chinyoka, Panashe Magwaza, Shadreck Samukange, Collen Makaza, Tawanda Bvunzabaya.
Senior Women: Patience Garauzive, Miriam Sibanda, Emilia Mukungatu.
Boys Under-20: Blessed Sipanela, Takudzwa Chisambara, Taurai Chabata, Greatmore Martin, Takunda Diwihi, Nomatter Gutsa, Obvious Unganai.
Girls Under-20: Brenda Njodzi, Nonhlanhla Nyati, Mercy Masanire, Ruvimbo Sithole, Kelly Bemhihwa, Nadia Mahuwa, Kelly Maguire.
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