Para-athlete targets PPC marathon

STAR female para-athlete Stella Jongwe has started her training programme for the Matopos PPC 33-miler marathon and she has set sights on winning gold.

Jongwe (21) wrote her first sporting success story as a wheelchair athlete in 2020 when she scooped gold at the Outeniqua Chair Challenge held in South Africa, the same year she won her first CBZ Marathon women’s wheelchair race gold medal.

She was also a bronze medallist at the African para-badminton championships held in Uganda in 2019.

In her career, she has won gold at the Victoria Falls Marathon, Tanganda Marathon, Hope Fountain race and was first at the Outeniqua wheelchair challenge in South Africa.

“This will be my first time to take part in this event and l am looking forward to it. I will give it my best as l always do.

“Hopefully, l will be able to win. When l go into any competition the goal is to win and l make sure and l do my best in terms of preparation. This is one of the biggest national events and it will be an honour to win the competition,” said Jongwe.

Born with Phocomelia, Jongwe has used misconceptions about disability as fuel to make a name for herself in sport.

Phocomelia is a congenital condition that involves malformations of human arms and legs which results in a flipper-like appendage. She tried basketball and then wheelchair tennis, but eventually, she found a home in athletics and never looked back.

Jongwe has taken to wheelchair athletics with so much passion and enthusiasm, racing to always be on top of the game. She dropped the underdog tag and started grooming herself to earn her stripes among the greatest wheelchair racers in the land.

The para-athlete has proven herself as a multi-talented athlete who has done many sporting disciplines.

Meanwhile, online registration for the Matopos Marathon is expected to open soon.

In the past years it has attracted over 3 000 athletes participating in different categories. The 53km ultra marathon starts inside the Matopo

National Park and concludes at Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC). Just after Woolandale Road is where the 21,1km gets underway and ends at BAC as well.

Tshabalala Sanctuary is the starting point for the 10-km fun run with its conclusion being at BAC which is also the starting as well as ending point for the 5km race.

The marathon is one of the biggest races which attract top athletes in the country. – @innocentskizoe.