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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
IT was a good outing for Zimbabwean female distance runners over the weekend with the trio of Rutendo Nyahora, Olivia Chitate and Patience Murowe making the top 10 at the Soweto Marathon in South Africa.
The first Zimbabwean to cross the finish line yesterday in the women’s category was Nyahora. The South Africa-based athlete running under XCEL Running Club clocked 2 hours 49 minutes 13 seconds to finish on position five.
Chitate, competing under Maxed Elite, finished on position seven in 2 hours 55 minutes 12 seconds and Murowe settled for position 10 when posting a time of 2 hours 57 minutes 39 seconds. Murowe was running under Nedbank Running Club.
It was Nyahora’s first marathon this year and it’s part of her build-up to try and qualify for next year’s World Athletics Championships in August in Budapest, Hungary.
With the qualifying time for women’s marathon set at 2 hours 28 minutes, she still has a lot of work to do ahead of her.
Chitate was pleased with the outcome as she said it was a tough race.
“To be honest I was not expecting such a result. My aim was to finish the race after I picked an injury two weeks before the race.
“I think it was a blessing in disguise because I started slowly knowing I had a problem, maybe without an injury I would have started fast and failed to finish the race. The course was tough as well as the competition, so I am happy I finished on position seven,” said Chitate.
Ethiopia’s Chaltu Bedo Negashu won the race in 2 hours 40 minutes 56 seconds. She was followed by Amelework Fikadu Bosho, who posted a time of 2 hours 43 minutes 14 seconds, and on third place was Tinebebe Nebiyu Ali in 2 hours 44 minutes 32 seconds.
In the men’s category, Zimbabwe’s Collen Makaza did not finish the race due to a persisting knee injury.
Makaza was injured last year during the Nedbank 50km ultra marathon and was hoping for a positive comeback yesterday but it appears he still has a long way to go before he can compete again.
Speaking from South Africa, the seasoned runner, who was registered under Maxed Elite for the race together with Chitate, said he is taking another break from competing.
“I didn’t finish the race, l stopped at the halfway mark because of my knee again. I think l forced it before I had fully recovered. I need to go to the physio before l start training again. It might take two to three months to recover.
“But I am happy with Chitate’s results. It was a tough race, the Ethiopians dominated the race, claiming position one, two and four in the male category and they claimed position one up to three in the female’s section. So it was a good result from Chitate,” said Makaza.
Just like in the women’s section, the Ethiopians dominated the top spots as Daba Ifa Debele romped to victory in 2 hours 18 minutes 58 seconds. On second position was Gadisa Bekele Gutama in 2 hours 19 minutes 27 seconds and Tsepo Ramashamole was third in 2 hours 20 minutes 21 seconds.
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