Online Reporter
Innocent Kurira, [email protected]
THE race toward this year’s ZITF Coca-Cola Four-Minute Mile is already beginning to take shape after two runners produced the first qualifying times and secured their places in the semi-finals of one of the country’s most anticipated middle-distance events.
Freedom Banda of Northlea High Athletics Club and ZRP runner Shyne Makota have become the first athletes to beat the qualifying mark as the build-up to the annual contest gathers momentum.
Banda stopped the clock at four minutes 29 seconds, while Makota went a second faster with four minutes 28 seconds to ensure that both athletes move safely into the semi-final round, leaving the rest of the field chasing early targets as the qualifying campaign begins to unfold.
More runners will attempt to join them when the next opportunity arrives at the Naaz Inter-Club Championships scheduled for White City Stadium on Saturday, an event that is expected to draw some of the country’s most promising middle-distance runners as they try to earn a place in the prestigious ZITF race.
The semi-finals are traditionally staged at White City ahead of the final, which takes place on the closing day of the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair in Bulawayo and has, over the years, grown into one of the standout attractions on the domestic athletics calendar.
Organisers are now exploring ways of taking qualifying races to different parts of the country in a move designed to give athletes outside Bulawayo easier access to the competition.
Bulawayo provincial board chairperson Watson Madanyika said discussions are already underway to stage some of the qualifiers in other provinces, including Harare, Bindura and Gwanda, with Blanket Mine Stadium in Matabeleland South emerging as one of the venues under consideration.
Madanyika said the idea is to make sure runners from different regions are given a realistic chance to compete without facing long and costly journeys just to enter a qualifying race.
“We are working on dates to go to Matabeleland South, particularly Blanket Mine, where we hope to stage qualifiers for the Four-Minute Mile,” said Madanyika.
“The goal is to make sure athletes from that region also get a chance to compete and try to qualify for the next stages of the competition.”
Runners must produce a time of around four minutes 31 seconds or faster to progress to the semi-finals, which will again be staged at White City before the finalists line up for the headline race during the trade fair festivities.
For now, Banda and Makota have laid down the first markers of the season, setting the pace for what promises to be another competitive chase for places in a race that continues to attract many of Zimbabwe’s best middle-distance runners.
