Mhaka tops in strength and fitness

Tinashe Kusema in KADOMA

AMID pomp and fanfare following the return of the Ironman competition, history was made in Kadoma yesterday as strength-and-fitness challenges were introduced for the first time as part of the festival.

Earlier in the day, festivities were headlined by Godwin Simbarashe Mhaka, as he triumphed over local heroes Tatenda Ziso and Justice Unyenye in the strength challenges.

The three were finalists in competitions that included bench presses, squats and the deadlift.

Mhaka, better known by his moniker ‘GC’, won all three, as he lifted 470 pounds in the bench press, 570 in the squats and 500 in the deadlift.

Ziso came second in all three, while Unyenye was third.

After the competition, Mhaka bemoaned the low turnout for the event.

“While happy that I won, I am a bit disappointed with the turnout,” said Mhaka.

“I was hoping for more competition, maybe get someone to push me and help me break my personal records.

“Still, this is very new in the country and my hope is that with time more people will come.

“That being said, I wish to congratulate the organisers of this event on a job well done.”

Strength-and-fitness challenges were recently introduced by the International Federation of Bodybuilding and Fitness (IFBB) — the governing body of the sport – and were due to debut at the now-postponed Asia Games that were scheduled for China.

Ironman Festival director Givemore Marume said they were happy with the overall turnout for the event.

“We were happy with the overall turnout, especially the half marathon that was oversubscribed and the golf event that saw over 100 people registering,” he said.

“For a small town like Kadoma, this has to be some kind of record.

“Given the recent introduction of strength-and-fitness challenges, we want to get as many people interested in the sport as possible, and this is just the beginning.

“With time, we want these guys to go out into the world, participate at international events and make us proud.

“Hopefully, with time, the challenges will grow at the festival and we can even start selecting those that will represent the country from the winners.

“For now, we are just happy that we managed to get the ball rolling.”

There were other events such as the half marathon, aerobathon, tug-of-war and volleyball competition.

The headline of the event, however, was the Ironman competition itself that was held late last night.