Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
HOSTS Mashonaland Central are hopeful that familiarity with the terrain will spur their athletes to success in the National Cross Country Championships this weekend.
Mashonaland Central Athletics Board secretary-general Luckmore Changachirere is confident of good performances from their athletes at the national event, set for Bindura University of Science Education on Saturday.
With the competition serving as a qualifier for the World Cross Country Championships scheduled for January, in Tallahassee, Florida, United States, the spotlight will be on the seniors and juniors who will be battling for the few slots to the global event. The hosts are fielding athletes in all categories.
“In terms of preparations we are now at an advanced stage. I think all is now set for the day.
“We are fielding athletes in all categories, we have Under-12s, then we have Under-16s, Under-18s and Under-20, then seniors.
“Generally, our athletes are not bad. We may not take the top positions but the second, third positions I think we are going to scoop those ones for the seniors because we have other top athletes, from other provinces who are participating.
“It’s likely that those top athletes will perform much better than ours but we will make it our goal to score some points as a province.
“We have the likes of Martha Chipuriro among our athletes. Then we also have other top athletes from the tertiary institutions we have in the province we are expecting to perform very well,” said Changachirere.
Senior men and women will compete in 10km while Under-20 men will be up for the 8km race and the women battle it out in 6km.
As part of development the competition also includes the Under-18 men and women taking part in the 6km and 4km races respectively. There is a 1km race for the Under-12s while the Under-16s will line up for 2km.
For 40 years and above men and women, there is also a 2km race on offer.
The championships to take place in the morning, will be followed by the NAAZ 2025 Excellence Awards, to honour top performers.
“We are delighted we get the chance to host the auspicious NAAZ Awards ceremony.
“We are happy some of our athletes have been nominated. We have the likes of Martha Chipuriro and Anesu Nyahuma.
“We are also happy one of the nominees for the best senior male athlete, (Tapiwanashe) Makarawu (now based in the US) also hails from our province.
“As a province we are proud of that,” said Changachirere.
Nyahuma and Chipuriro were nominated for the Junior Female Athlete of the Year.
NAAZ competitions director Manuel Mpofu confirmed all provinces had sent in their teams by the close of entries on Monday.
The athletics body have set qualifying standards to try and ensure they send competitive athletes to the world event.
“Mashonaland Central has got the bulk of the athletes.
“We are expecting a bigger competition. All the entered athletes are in good form, its promising that we are going to have a very good competition.
“And I think most of the athletes, they might be able to meet that qualifying standard if all goes well because we have the likes of Blessing Waison, Moses Tarakinyu, Wayne Kabondo (from Harare).
“We also have Tatenda Hove from Midlands. From Masvingo there is Munyaradzi Zhou, he is also a very good contender.”
