Online Reporter
Ellina Mhlanga
Zimpapers Sports Hub
NATIONAL Athletics Association of Zimbabwe president, Tendayi Tagara, says they want the men’s 4x400m relay team to go into an early camp after they took a giant leap towards qualification for the World Relays.
The team finished second at the Lefika International Relays in a time of 3 minutes 00.69 seconds.
The solid performance at the competition held in Gaborone, Botswana, saw the team also setting a new national record.
The previous record was 3 minutes 00.79 seconds set in 1997.
The quartet of captain Gerren Muwishi, Dennis Hove, Leeford Zuze and Thandazani Ndhlovu delivered a strong performance to smash that record.
They also set themselves in a position to climb up the ladder on the Top List for the World Relays.
“Good performance by the team,” said Tagara.
“I knew they could run good times with three athletes running 45 seconds in the individual races.
“The plan is as soon as we are declared qualified, we must go into camp early and run at the Grand Prix in Botswana, have the team run at the National Championships as well.
“The trip to Lesotho was worth it,” said Tagara.
Going into the race, Zimbabwe were ranked 24th, with a time of 3 minutes 03.42 seconds, and occupying the final slot for qualification.
But, with a time of 3 minutes 00.69 seconds, they are likely to move up into a more comfortable zone, which will guarantee their qualification to the World Relays due to take place on May 2 and 3 in Botswana.
Nigeria, who were their close competitors going into Saturday’s meet, ranked 26th, came third in 3 minutes 02.98 seconds.
Kenya crossed the finish line in 3 minutes 00.34 seconds to win the race.
Muwishi saluted his teammates for the solid performance in Botswana.
“The boys did well. We knew from our performance in Lesotho that Lefika would be something special, so we went out there, did our best and solidified our qualification. “The national record was an icing on the cake.
“There was still a bit of confusion after the race, so we didn’t really know what our time was.
“It was some 20 minutes later that we got confirmation and the gents were ecstatic,” said Muwishi.
The qualification window closes on April 5, and the World Athletics is set to release the final list of the qualified teams on April 7.
There are six events on the World Relays programme – the women’s 4x100m, women’s 4x400m, men’s 4x100m, men’s 4x400m, mixed 4x100m and mixed 4x400m relays.
Zimbabwe also had a mixed 4x100m relay team made up of Rutendo Vushe, Samkeliso Ndebele, Daniel Magogo and Methembe Tshuma in Botswana.
They finished sixth in 42.97 seconds.
This was the first time NAAZ entered a mixed 4x100m relay team.
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