Chronicle Editor
Innocent Kurira, Sports Reporter
THE Bulawayo Athletics Board (Bab) says it is engaging the corporate world in a bid to have its traditional road races back.
While track-and-field events appear to be back in full force with numerous events having been hosted by Bab and other athletics clubs, it has not been the same with road races.
The last road-race to be hosted by Bab was the Liquor Hub half marathon in December last year.
Since then, the major marathon events that have been foregone include the Old Mutual Nkulumane Half marathon and The PPC Matopos marathon which was scheduled for April on the Bab calendar.
According to the calendar the remaining road races they could host include the Rail Trail marathon, Hope Fountain 30km road race and the Liquor Hub half marathon which could take place in December to bring the curtain down on the athletics calendar.
Bab has bemoaned post Covid-19 effects for failure to have their normal long distance events.
“We have done well with the track-and-field events, but it has not been easy with road races because these are events that are sponsored by corporates.
Many of them have not recovered from the Covid-19 era which also affected business.
However, we continue to engage them to come and help us stage these events.
“Hopefully soon we will have our road races back so that our long distance athletes can also get an opportunity to do what they love most on a regular basis.
We are happy that nationally there are quite a number of road races on the cards where our athletes can participate,” said Madanyika.
Meanwhile, Zimbabwean sprinter Tinotenda Matiyenga failed to make it past the heats of the men’s 200m race at the ongoing World Athletics Championships in the United States of America.
Matiyenga crossed the finish line after 20.72 seconds in heat three out of the seven that were lined up for the early hours of yesterday morning.
The heat was won by Erriyon Khighton from the United States of America with a time of 20.01 seconds.
South Africa’s Luxolo Adams was second after finishing the race in 20.10 seconds while Netheneel Mitchell-Blake from Great Britain finished third in 20.11 seconds.
Matiyenga qualified for the competition through the global ranking.
Prior to Matiyenga’s qualification in 200m for the ongoing meet, Zimbabwe had last fielded a sprinter at the World Championships in 2015.
In 2017 and 2019, Zimbabwe’s team was mainly made up of marathon runners.
Triple Jumper Chengetayi Mapaya is also yet to compete.
Mapaya will be banking on his experience from the previous edition as he was part of the team that represented the country in 2019.
The other Zimbabwean representative at the games is Isaac Mpofu, who came 10th in the men’s marathon in a time of 2 hours 7 minutes 57 seconds to beat the previous national record that stood at 2 hours 9 minutes 52 seconds, set by Cuthbert Nyasango in 2014.
Sunday’s run by Mpofu was an improved performance compared to his qualifying time of 2 hours 10 minutes 24 seconds at the Durban International Marathon in South Africa in May, where he was disqualified for failing to wear a second bib at the back displaying a second licence number. — @innocentskizoe
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