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Ricky Zililo Sports Reporter
Bulawayo Athletics Board technical officials have marked the route to be used for the inaugural Joshua Mqabuko Nkomo Half-Marathon set for Bulawayo on Sunday.The event will start at the late Vice-President Nkomo’s Matsheumhlophe home and end at his Pelandaba house.
In an interview yesterday, Bulawayo Athletics Board secretary-general Dailes Bingadadi said they marked the course on Sunday.
She said they were expecting the country’s top athletes to participate in the competition.
“Our technical team led by the provincial chairman Manuel Mpofu marked the course on Sunday. The Joshua Nkomo National Foundation was represented by Jabulani Hadebe and at this stage we can say we are ready for the race,” said Bingadadi.
The race will start on Sunday morning at Nkomo’s Aberdeen Road home in Matsheumhlophe and the route will see athletes turning right along Marimba Road before turning left into Old Esigodini Road.
Athletes will then run past Christian Brothers College before turning left at the Cecil Avenue robots intersection. From there they will run past Hillside Teachers’ Training College, Hillside Police Station and Morningside Shopping Centre before turning right towards Montrose Girls High School where they will again turn left along Dundee Road.
They will then run past Waterworld and Founders High School to join Plumtree Road.
After turning left towards Plumtree, they will run past Southwold, turn right to join Siyephambili Drive, run past Nketa, Tshabalala, Nkulumane Complex until they reach Hyde Park Road where they will turn right towards town.
Athletes will run past Pelandaba SDA Church and White City Stadium and immediately turn right on Nketa Drive intersection and take another right turn at the Fire Station, pass through Induba Primary School before finishing off at Nkomo’s Pelandaba home.
“If you look at the race course, you can see that it incorporates lots of suburbs and we are hoping that people of Bulawayo will make this event one to remember. There are lots of prizes to be won and we hope that athletes will live up to the billing,” said Hadebe.
The winner of the 21km race in the men’s category will walk away with $800 while the first woman to cross the line will get $500.
Hadebe said should a woman come first in the overall 21km race, that person will be awarded the men’s category first prize of $800.
The juniors will compete in the 3x7km relay with primary schoolchildren and the veterans set to battle it out in the 5km race from Nkulumane Complex to the Pelandaba house while the wheelchair category will compete in the 21km race category.
Winners in the primary and veterans’ categories will pocket $100. Winners in the wheelchair category will pocket $500 while winners in the juniors’ category will receive $300.
Registration closes on Saturday night.
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