adminJeffrey Murimbechi Sports Correspondent
A GLOBAL phenomenon will soon become a feature in the annual festivities of Zimbabwe’s sports calendar as the country will host its inaugural Zimbabwe Colour Run on December 7 at the Borrowdale Race Course in Harare. The colour run has been exploding since its debut in January 2012, and now grown from 50 events and 600 000 participants in 2012 to over 100 events and over a million participants in 2013.
Colour running was a concept that began in Utah, United States, in an effort to persuade professional sports people and novices to run in the same field without a competitive environment.
It has now spread to all ages.
Zimbabwe will be the second African country after South Africa to embrace the event.
“Zimbabwe’s colour run hopes to be a means to bring communities to celebrate fun catering for all ages from two to people of old age.
“The colour run will be followed by a concert and festival with guest star DJs and performing artistes that we will announce very soon,” spokesman and operations director of the Zimbabwe Colour Run, Echo Meza, told The Herald.
Meza also revealed that they had roped in Zimbabwe national team cricketer Chamunorwa Chibhabha to be a brand ambassador for the event.
Chibhabha has just returned from his six-month stint with an English cricket club.
“I had heard about the run while I was in England and a few friends showed me their pictures from last year’s event and I think it will work with Zimbabwean sportsmen.
“It’s not only professional cricketers and sportsmen that wake up every morning to have a run, so I expect a few people to try and out run me on the day,” said Chibhabha. South Africa recently successfully hosted a colour run in September and will host a second one in Cape Town at the end of October.
Organisers expect at least 5000 people to take part in the run and their Facebook page has already generated a lot of interest.
“We will not only have professional sportsmen and women taking part, we have professionals from other lines of business who have pledged to take bring their families along as well which is what the event is all about,” said Meza.
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