adminRay Bande Senior Sports Reporter
THE annual Tanganda Half Marathon — one of the country’s prestigious long distance running competitions — roars into life on Sunday morning when more than 500 athletes from different parts of the country converge in Mutare to compete in different categories.
The race starts at 6.30am.
Manicaland Athletics Board (MAB) partners principal sponsors of the competition, Tanganda Tea Company in organising the annual contest that used to attract renowned yesteryear athletes such as Abel Chimukoko and Elijah Mutandiro.
The competition has always been a major highlight on the domestic long distance running competition calendar before taking a sabbatical in 2004, only to return on the local radar in 2012.
MAB chairman Joshua “Zesa” Matume, confirmed that all is set for the 2015 Tanganda Half Marathon with registration of athletes expected to be finalised tomorrow (Saturday).
“Everything has gone on well and our registration of athletes is expected to be finalised on Saturday (tomorrow).
“Athletes will be registered at the Meikles Park in the city centre in Mutare as well as at the Tanganda Tea Company premises at Number 15, Vumba Road in the Nyakamete Industrial Area.
“We are inviting all clubs, primary schools and secondary schools to send their athletes since we will have races for all age groups.
“We will have a 2km race for Under-14s, hence primary schools will have a chance to showcase their talented athletes as well.
“Secondary schools can also field their athletes in the 5,25kmx4 relay competition.
“Some athletes from secondary schools as well as clubs can also partake in the 21km main event.
“In short, it promises to be an exciting event this year and we applaud the sponsors for increasing the package after a successful event last year,” said Matume.
He confirmed that most of the country’s top athletes had confirmed their participation as part of their preparations ahead of the World Championships in Beijing, China in September.
“Last year, we had more than 350 athletes who participated.
“This year we are likely to have about 500 athletes. The 2015 edition is likely to attract more athletes because this is one of the most rewarding event in Zimbabwe. This year’s package is slightly more attractive than last year.
“It is also imperative to note that most of the big names that are coming here are taking this as an important preparatory race ahead of the World Championships in Beijing, China in September this year,” said Matume.
Twenty one kilometre senior men and women, veterans, masters and grand masters, wheelchair and relays, 10km senior men and women, juniors out of school, secondary school category, tertiary category (colleges and universities) are some of the categories included. It appears Tanganda Tea Company are living up to their word of bankrolling the competition for many more years to come.
“As the sponsors, we are happy with the crowd we managed to attract and the good thing is that we also had most of the best athletes on the local scene. We have every reason to pledge that the competition will be on next year again.
“We also made it a point that we are not going to award just number one to four only. In some categories, we managed to source prizes even for those that finished on 10th position.
“The reason being that we did not want to discourage athletes after going through the strenuous long distance competition,” Tanganda Tea Company operations manager Farai Garai was quoted expressing satisfaction at the level of competition witnessed at last year’s edition of the annual competition.
Online Reporter