Marume Classic adjusted

Deputy Sports Editor

IT looks like the success of the Ironman Festival is starting to rub off onto the body-building community.

Much like the May event, the Marume Classic will adopt a mini-festival format, and, as a result, the annual bodybuilding contest has been pushed from its original date, September 3, to October 1.

“The Marume Classic’s change in dates was due to a request from our main sponsor, Saltrama Plastics, who want us to add a few new items to the event and, as such, we needed more time,” said event coordinator and founder Givemore Marume.

“Among these new additions is the Saltrama Strength Wars, which will include strength and fitness challenges, Aerobathon, and other carnival events.

“We are planning to have a mini-festival, much like the one we had in Kadoma at the Ironman event, so that we soften up the day and people come to celebrate sport and fitness,” he said.

It helps that Marume himself was the point person for the Ironman festival, and the change in dates and events has not really stalled progress at all.

In fact, the former bodybuilding champion has spent the last couple of weeks running around and getting everything in place for the event.

“The change in dates has not really affected our preparations as we notified all our stakeholders, from the athletes to the sponsors and organisers, in time.

“I also had to notify our counterparts from Zambia, who have expressed their interest in taking part at the event and will be sending a strong team,” he said.

The Marume Classic is the next event on the National Federation of Zimbabwe Body-building and Fitness (NFZBF) calendar, and will be staged at the Zimbabwe College of Music. As has become the norm, the festival will be headlined by the main bodybuilding contest, which will include six categories.

Among these is the women’s bikini open, men’s fitness open, men’s physique (179cm and above), men’s physique (below 179cm), the junior men’s bodybuilding (23 years and above) and the men’s open categories.

A judges training session has also been pencilled in for September 24, which will be conducted by highly qualified tutors from South Africa.

The session is a first of its kind and will go a long way towards sharpening the skills and training of the country’s local judges for this and other competitions to come.

“I can say that we have covered 75 percent of our preparations so far, and we are all very excited with the progress that we have made.

“The response we have received from the athletes has been overwhelming, and Saltrama Plastics coming on board has really helped matters.

“They are our platinum sponsors and have been an all-weather friend to the competition since its inception back in 2017.

“It is through their support and friendship that we have also started seeing more and more sponsors come in,” he said.

Such has been the response from the bodybuilding community that the event organisers are expecting a bumper crowd as athletes from Zambia, Botswana, Mozambique and Zimbabwe have either confirmed their participation or expressed interest.