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Pangiso, Constance win Westgate race

Sport
THE second edition of the Old Mutual Westgate Half Marathon began the same way its first edition ended last year, with the same usual faces gracing the medal podium.

THE second edition of the Old Mutual Westgate Half Marathon began the same way its first edition ended last year, with the same usual faces gracing the medal podium.

BY HENRY MHARA

Defending champions Wirimai Juwawo and Rutendo Nyahora could not retain their titles in the main male and female races respectively, but then, it was Kelvin Pangiso and Constance Nyasango who are the new winners.

Veteran Pangiso, who won this race in 2011 when it was not yet revamped to the current status, clinched the title in a time of 1:03:52, while Nyasango, who had husband Cuthbert and in-law Faith also gracing the medal podium in the main race, came first in her category in a time of 1:17.28.

Luwis Masunda, another usual winner, came second, a minute behind Pangiso and just less than 60 seconds ahead of third-placed Cuthbert. Juwawo who finished fourth.

Nyahora could only manage a silver medal this time around, falling behind the winner by less than a minute while Faith completed the top three list in the main women race.

Pangiso and Nyasango got a $3 000 reward each, but it was the collective effort of the Nyasango family that paid huge dividends.

The trio travelled back to their home city in Mutare with a cool $5 000.

Pangiso, Masunda, Juwawo and Cuthbert were all part of the breakaway group that formed just after the two-kilometre mark but the winner then escaped the attention of the rest after the 10km spot, and he never looked back.

Seasoned wheelchair athletes Elford Moyo, and Margaret Bangajena retained their titles in the 21km race for the male and female categories with a time of 1:03:52 and 1:37:04 respectively.

However, the two sported heavy faces after the races.

The anger was not from the race throbbing, but they think the sponsors are giving the wheelchair athletes a raw deal in this competition as the winners in this category were given just over a quarter of what the able bodied athletes received.

Moyo and Bangajena received $1 200 each. There were also no surprises in the veteran categories with Tabitha Tsatsa and Samukeliso Moyo coming first and second in the women side while Brighton Chipere and Clever Rangwani were first and second in the male group.

The winners in this group got $200 each while the runners up were given $100.

The 10km race titles went to Wellington Varevi (men) and Sithulisiwe Zhou (female) in a time of 30:59 minutes and 37:56 minutes respectively. They were also rewarded with a $200 each.

Yesterday’s race was the richest athletics competition on the athletics calendar.

Here are the reactions from some of the winners.

Pangiso: “This is my second race after my injury in March and I had come here just to compete. My aim was just to complete in the race, but here I am with the winners’ medal. This is surely the grace of God and extremely happy. In fact, I still can’t believe that I won this race.”

Moyo: “The race was fine for me and the organisation was also excellent, but we as wheelchair athletes, we feel we are not given the same recognition as our able-bodied counterparts. We compete in the same distance, but are not treated the same when it comes to rewards.”

Bangajena was even emotional: “It’s sad for athletics in the country. As athletes we require a lot of resources for us to compete in these races – things such as tyres for our wheelchairs. Look at my palms, there are heat burns all over, and this is how we are rewarded. But we should also applaud the sponsors for inviting the disabled athletes to compete in their races, unlike in other local marathon races.”