Online Reporter
Lovemore Dube
MANU Mpofu, the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe (Naaz) administrator, is confident that White City Stadium will host the biggest and most competitive national athletics meet in recent memory.
The overwhelming response to Saturday’s Zimbabwe National Junior Track and Field Championships has already forced organisers into overdrive, with heats’ lists and the official event schedule being finalised ahead of what promises to be a landmark occasion for the sport.
“Preparations for the Junior Championships are all in order. Registration has gone well, and the secretariat is busy now drawing the heats’ list,” said Mpofu yesterday, sounding upbeat about the expected turnout.
While athletics events in Zimbabwe have struggled in recent years — often drawing poor crowds and small fields, sometimes even forcing age-group events to be merged due to lack of competitors — this weekend’s meet is set to buck that trend in dramatic fashion. The renewed surge of interest in track and field is not without reason. A fresh generation of athletes is injecting belief back into the sport, not just locally but on the global stage as well.
Sprint sensations, Makanaishe Charamba and Tapiwanashe Makarawu have inspired many with their performances, having both reached the 200m final at the 2024 Olympics. They ended the recent indoor season as joint top 200m runners globally, each clocking 20.13 seconds — times that hint at even faster performances on outdoor tracks, where they’ve already run blistering 19.95 and 19.93 seconds, respectively.
In the field events, triple jumper Chengetayi “Chenge” Mapaya continues to soar. He recently finished sixth in the indoor long jump finals with a leap of 16.74m and is in a determined push to qualify for the 2025 World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. Even beyond the track, marathoner Isaac Mpofu has kept Zimbabwe’s flag flying high on the roads, proving to be a dependable ambassador of endurance athletics and offering even more inspiration to aspiring juniors.
These role models — combined with a vibrant schools athletics season—have created the perfect storm for a bumper competition on Saturday. The junior circuit has been buzzing for weeks, with athletes sharpening their form at various provincial and school meets. The National Association of Secondary School Heads (Nash) Track and Field Championships, which concluded just last Thursday at Chipadze High School, served as an ideal build-up platform.
Mpofu confirmed that Saturday’s fields will comprise a healthy mix of athletes drawn from schools, clubs, and individual entries — making it arguably the biggest junior showdown of the season.
“Some are coming through clubs, others from schools, and there are even independent entries. This will be the biggest event in terms of field size and competitiveness so far this year,” he said.
He also revealed that all 10 provinces have confirmed participation, an encouraging sign of widespread national involvement. In past years, the Nash and Chamber of Mines Games were the few events guaranteed to draw decent fields, with at least six athletes per event.
The top-performing athletes at White City will be considered for selection to represent Zimbabwe at this year’s Africa Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region Five Games in Namibia, raising the stakes even higher for those eyeing regional honours.
