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Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter
ORGANISERS of the Econet Victoria Falls Marathon made a monumental blunder that denied 19-year-old female runner Brenda Makonyere first prize in the open half-marathon as she was erroneously registered as a male.
The unheralded Makonyere ran the 21.1km race in an immaculate time of one hour 15 minutes and 32 seconds, beating seasoned road runner Betha Chikanga, who crossed the finishing line in one hour 16 minutes and six seconds.
Because of the alleged registration glitch, Chikanga was given the $500 prize money for winning the race, while Makonyere reportedly broke down in tears.
Some participants at the Econet Victoria Falls Marathon, which attracted over 4 000 runners, told Chronicle Sport that the organisers turned down Makonyere’s plea, leaving the budding athlete with a heartbreak.
Some athletes took to social media to highlight the anomaly, creating a hashtag #JusticeforBrenda, which has been trending since Sunday.
Danayi Annah Nyabadza, writing on Econet Zimbabwe’s Facebook page, said Makonyere had been sponsored by her running mates, who saw potential in her to compete in the Victoria Falls marathon.
“A grave wrong was done today at Victoria Falls Marathon. Help me cry out. We shared a chalet with a young girl; 19 years old, who got sponsored by running buddies to come here vaona (after seeing her) potential. She ran her first ever 21km race today (Sunday) and came first. Her race bib says female then Econet loads her under males. Her English is not good, when she went kunobvunza (to ask) why she is not appearing as first, vamuti haungambosiya (they said she can’t beat) Bertha Chikanga the Spar SA half marathon winner and told her kuti haana (she didn’t have) sweat. Do we lock down pure talent in Zimbabwe? How do we know she won’t raise the flag high mangwana (in future), why are we crushing dreams?” Nyabadza wrote.
A number of social media users challenged the race organisers to rectify the mistake and honour Makonyere.
In their response, Econet Customer Care said: “Hello Buddies. We have taken note of the issue you have raised. As the sponsors, we are investigating the matter with our organisers and the athlete with a view to get this redressed speedily.”
Makonyere was still stuck in Victoria Falls yesterday, trying to get her prize from the organisers.
Apparently, there were a lot of registration glitches, with veteran female soccer referee Saneliso Sibanda also being classified in the male category in the 21.1km run.
It was the second year in a row that Sibanda had been classified as a male in the Econet Victoria Falls Marathon.
“I’m disappointed in the organisers of the race for disrespecting me. Last year I raised my concern and they promised to look at it; which they didn’t. This time they’ve again made the same mistake,” fumed Sibanda.
“If you check at the online results, you will see that I finished in position 54 in the male category instead of being fourth in the veteran women’s group.”
Sibanda is from budding Bulawayo-based fitness club Fitness First, which Chronicle Sports Editor Dingilizwe Ntuli, who ran the full marathon on Sunday, is also a member of.
Besides the glaring Sibanda and Makonyere registration hitches, another athlete with a feminine name, but captured as a male in the race is one Irene Rozi, who finished the race one minute 42 seconds after Chikanga in the 21.1km.
Some runners that registered for the race online found their names missing from the system on Friday and Saturday and had to re-register manually.
Runners also complained about the chaos from the gate to the finishing line at Victoria Falls Primary School, with people randomly walking in tired athletes’ paths and sometimes bumping into them.
@ZililoR
Online Reporter