Star-studded lineup for Binga Marathon

Ricky Zililo, Senior Sports Reporter

ZIMBABWE’S top road-runners will use the Binga Kasambabezi Marathon as part of their preparations for international qualifying events that include next year’s World Athletics Championships set for Budapest in Hungary.

A star-studded line-up headlines the 42km race which is on in Binga tomorrow morning.
Seasoned runners Mike Fokorani and Lyno Muchena who was in Zambia last week, are part of the late entries that pushed the number of marathon participants to 17 from 13.

The duo joins Zimbabwe’s marathon record holder Isaac Mpofu, winner of the 2022 Econet Victoria Falls Marathon Jonathan Chinyoka, Nkosiyazi Sibanda, Kelvin Pangiso and Moses Tarakinyu among the country’s top runners that will compete at the marathon.

Naaz president Tendai Tagara said: “There’s a team that has been in camp preparing to participate at qualifying races for major international events and most of them will use the Binga Kasambabezi Marathon to fine tune their preparations. Though the Binga race is not a sanctioned qualifying event for international competitions, it presents our athletes with a platform to test their preparedness and attend to any shortcomings.”

Naaz has been releasing from camp long-distance runners so that they participate at regional races in Botswana, South Africa and Zambia whose times are recognised for qualifiers to international events.

Meanwhile, Recent Ncube, a member of the Binga Kasambabezi Marathon’s local organising committee said they are excited with the number of people who have registered for the meet.

“We’ve passed the 850 registration mark and we’re excited to have such a turnout that includes high profile athletes. We are happy that Binga is drawing such huge numbers from across the country.

Through this marathon, we’re promoting Binga as a perfect tourism destination and people attending the race will have time to go to the Zambezi River, visit the hot springs and get to appreciate BaTonga.

“From those that have registered, we’ve got 17 entries for the full marathon, with the rest signing up for half-marathon, 10km and 5km races,” said Ncube. — @ZililoR