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Ellina Mhlanga
Senior Sports Reporter
TENDAI Zimuto surprised himself yesterday when he was crowned the winner of this year’s CBZ Marathon at Old Georgians Sports Club.
Running a marathon for the first time, Zimuto was the first to cross the finish line in 2 hours 18 minutes 32 seconds.
The Black Rhinos Athletics Club athlete previously concentrated on 10km and half-marathons.
Lyno Muchena of Nedbank came second in 2 hours 23 minutes 8 seconds and Jonathan Chinyoka of Zimbabwe Prisons and Correctional Service (ZPCS) was placed third in 2 hours 31 minutes 14 seconds.
Zimuto, who is one of the athletes earmarked for qualification for major competitions by the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe, could not hide his excitement as he said yesterday’s race was a motivation for him.
“I am very happy with my performance today because I was training for marathon but then I was disappointed when the marathon I was supposed to run on 9 April was postponed. So I was going back to run 10km and was reducing my training because I was starting to work on speed.
“But I am happy that I ran today and posted a time of 2.18. If I can get another good race, I expect to run a better time that is close to qualification. I am inspired because of today’s race,” said Zimuto.
The women’s race was won by Patience Murowe of ZPCS in 2 hours 59 minutes 45 seconds.
She was followed home by Nedbank’s Monica Kativu with a time of 3 hours 17 minutes 26 seconds while Rudo Mhonderwa of Powerhouse was third in 3 hours 19 minutes 43 seconds. Murowe said the race gave her an insight of what she needs to work on since it is her first marathon for this year.
“I am very happy and I just want to thank CBZ for sponsoring this race.
“This was my first marathon this year, that’s why I am happy. I wasn’t expecting to win.
“So I am just happy and I want to thank God as well who gave me the strength to run the race. And I also thank HAC for hosting this race.
“I think after this race I need to go and train hard on my speed and do more tempo runs and longs runs,” said Murowe.
Zimuto and Murowe received ZWL$1 100 000 each.
Black Rhinos’ Moses Tarakinyu won the men’s 21km race in 1 hour 3 minutes 8 seconds while Olivia Chitate emerged the winner in the women’s section in 1 hour 24 minutes 10 seconds.
The 21km men wheelchair event was won by Munyaradzi Katiyo in 1 hour 6 minutes 58 seconds while Stellah Jongwe came first in the women’s category in 1 hour 25 minutes 7 seconds. The winners for 21km and 21km wheelchair, men and women, got ZWL$550 000 each.
Wellington Varevi of Black Rhinos and Miriam Sibanda from Mr Pace won the men and women’s 10km races respectively.
CBZ have been sponsoring the event for five years, and group executive marketing and corporate affairs, Matilda Nyathi, was impressed with the turnout for this year’s event.
“So we are very excited as CBZ to be able to host this year’s marathon. As compared to last year, we had just over a thousand, this year we had over 1 500 runners coming through.
“And this is cutting across all ages and cutting across even the country, so we are honoured, we are thrilled that it’s growing in numbers and stature.
“And we have even received feedback to extend it further. So hopefully next year we can actually look at bigger numbers coming through.”
Harare Athletic Club chairperson, Walter Chimuka, shared the same sentiments.
“Good turnout both in terms of the elite runners who will be battling out for prizes at the front and also as social runners who come in to run to finish.
“I think post-Covid now, people have realised the need to keep fit and running is probably one of the cheapest ways to get yourself fit. So there is a lot of interest in running,” said Chimuka.
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