The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
BLACK Rhinos Athletics Club athlete Wellington Varevi powered his way to victory in the Coca-Cola Four Minute Mile Challenge run at the Zimbabwe International Trade Fair (ZITF) Main Arena yesterday.
It was the third time that Varevi has won the race after he did so in 2014 when he was just 20 years old and 2018 at the age of 24.
The 28-year-old crossed the finish line in a time of four minutes, 13.64 seconds, Nyasha Mutsetse was second in four minutes, 14.31 seconds and Nomore Wiriki was third in four minutes, 14.87 seconds.
Godwin Katakura came into the race with the best qualifying time of four minutes, 10.66 seconds but could only settle for fourth place in four minutes, 15.28 seconds.
The race started off at a fast pace with Wiriki in the lead for the better parts of the contest. As expected, the athletes fizzled out and that is when Varevi surged ahead to win it.
Varevi walked away with a shield, gold medal, miniature trophy and a cash prize of $112 000.
Mutsetse’s reward was $56 000, Wiriki pocketed $49 000 while Katakura went home $42 000 richer.
Prizes were given to the top 10 athletes in the race. A total of 12 athletes ran yesterday but 13 had actually qualified, with Tapiwa Chineka of Black Rhinos unable to take to the field since he is representing the country in Botswana.
Delta Beverages southern region sales executive Cosmas Munapenyi and Bulawayo Athletics Board chairman Watson Madanyika presented the athletes with their prizes.
The race, sponsored by Coca-Cola and its bottling partners in Zimbabwe, Delta Beverages made a return this year after not being held in 2020 and 2021 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Athletes found the going tough in the qualifiers as most of those who attempted to qualify failed to beat the four minutes, 31 seconds qualifying time.
This led to the cancellation of the semi-finals, which are usually held a day before the final where the top 20 earn the right to challenge for the top honours.
– @Mdawini_29
