The Sunday News
Mehluli Sibanda, Senior Sports Reporter
LOCAL road runners have decided not to be left out from the Comrades Centenary Hope Challenge, which is a virtual run to be held today where participants will take part from various locations all over the world.
Today was meant to be when the actual 2021 Comrades Marathon would have taken place in South Africa’s KwaZulu-Natal but the iconic ultra-marathon cannot be held again this year due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Five distances are on offer in the Comrades Centenary Hope Challenge, these being a 5km, 10km, 21.1km, 45km and 90km which will all be run virtually, meaning that athletes get to run their own race, along their selected route anywhere in the world.
A total of 90 Zimbabweans have registered to take part in the Comrades Centenary Hope Challenge. In Harare, those taking part are running from the capital city to Shamva. The Bulawayo 90km and 45km runners will be running along Plumtree Road with the finishing point being Bulawayo Athletic Club. BAC is also the starting and ending spot for the 21km.
Most of the runners in Bulawayo are from Fitness First, a local club made up both runners and other fitness enthusiasts. For Bulawayo, three races are on offer, these being 90km, 45km and 21km. Five Bulawayo athletes are going for the more grueling 90km run. Two of them, Fatima Hassin and Stanley Sibanda have twice previously taken part in the actual Comrades Marathon. Zumba Mhere, Misheck Matanhire and Simibisai Mutandi are the others taking part in the 90km run. Matanhire is the Fitness First club captain.
Ten athletes are going for the 45km, of which are six women who are competing for the time ever in an ultra-run while two of the four men have also not taken part in such a distance before.
Eighteen runners are taking part in the 21km, which is the highest number. In this group there is Comrades veteran David Gondongwe who due to an injury cannot do the 90kms. Gondongwe has been to the Comrades five times.
Hassin said they have been training for this run since January as they had optimism that this year’s Comrades Marathon will take place.
“Our team has been training from January with hopes that the real actual Comrades would have been run but due to Covid-19 it was cancelled. We knew that a virtual Comrade would be run so to keep moral and encourage our team members we have kept our training for all distances and all levels of fitness,’’ Hassin said.
In preparation for the Comrades Centenary Hope Challenge, the runners did a number of training sessions.
“For our Comrades training run the team ran from Mbalabala to Bulawayo which was 66kms this run was done on the 2nd May. The members running 45kms ran from Blue Hills (Danger) to Bulawayo. Also, as part of our training for the 90kms we did what is known as the Easter 100. This is run as follows we run 50kms first day 30kms second day and 20kms third day so effective we ran 100kms in three days,’’ she said.
To add to the excitement, the locals managed to register in South Africa and after running they will be able to enter their times after which the Comrades organisers will send them medals. Just to show how enthusiastic the Bulawayo group is, they have also managed organise their own medals and T-shirts.
“When you have finished running you upload your run on an app which connects to the Comrades website then they will register your run for the day. The medals will be posted to each person as we had to give our address where it can be posted to.”
In order to comply with Covid-19 regulations, the organisers of the Bulawayo run have said they will be no crowds at the finishing point such that by the time the 45km runners arrive, those running the 21km will have finished and dispersed. Virtual races have become more common since the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic, which has made it impossible for large gatherings to take place. It is for this reasons that locals have refused to be left out of the Comrades Centenary Hope Challenge experience. -@Mdawini_29
