RUTENDO Nyahora and Kelvin Pangiso overcame injuries to win the Tanganda Tea 21km Half Marathon held in Mutare on Sunday.
BY KENNETH NYANGANI
The race went on smoothly, but was delayed by more than an hour. Tsitsi Kumadiro, who is in charge of marketing and promotions at Tanganda, appeared to have been overwhelmed by the event.
Some of the technical officials and organisers complained over Kumadiro’s conduct after holding on to their allowances hours after the race had ended.
But it was another fine day for Nyahora, who is contracted by Nedbank in South Africa, after beating a strong field to hit the ribbon first in 1hr 18mins 52 seconds to walk home with $550, while Patience Murove came second after recording 1hr 21mins 35s.
In the male category, Pangiso recorded a good time of 1hr 05mins 17sec and also received $550, while Olympian Wirimayi Juwawo came second on 1hr 05mins 39sec.
“I am surprised by the victory, I was suffering from a calf injury and coming to this event I was just training once per week. I came here hoping for a top 14 position, so winning this race was beyond my imagination. The last 6km was tough for me, I even wanted to pull out, but I cheered myself up,” Pangiso said.
Nyahora said she was also suffering from a knee injury, but said she was happy that she was improving.
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“I am improving. My injury is now getting better, it was a tough race and I am happy to win the race,’’ she said.
It was also a good day for 64-year-old grandmaster Amos Chikudza, who came first in the 10km grandmaster race.
The elated Chikudza, who went home with $200, said he was still going strong and will participate in future races.
Meanwhile, Tanganda Tea Company’s finance director Henry Nemaire revealed that his company would donate $3 200 towards the shipping of three wheelchairs donated by Challenged Athletes Foundation for wheelchair athletes.
“As Tanganda, we understand the importance of sowing and reaping. We are sowing $3 200 to facilitate the movement of wheelchairs from the USA through Cape Town to Zimbabwe in response to a plea from wheelchair athletes,” he said.
“We are acknowledging wheelchair athletes’ consistent support of the competition over the years.”
