The Sunday News
Phineas Mukwazo
THE National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe(Naaz) has postponed the JM Busha Elite marathon which was pencilled for 29 July largely because many of the participants would be on duty for their particular countries at the IAAF world championships set to run in London from 4 August to 13 August.
The showcase was expected to attract the crème dela crème from not only Southern region, but other African countries with an athlete having notched an impressive time of at least 2 hours 15 minutes for men 2:40,00 for women being an entry requirement.
“From our statistics we discovered that almost all of these athletes will be running in London on 6 August. The world championships should take precedence here,’’ said Naaz president Tendai Tagara confirming the postponement on Tuesday.
“At the recent regional meet the concern was the best will not be available because of the world championships. Our target was to invite the top 20 marathoners from each of the 15 regional countries.
“We delayed to inform the public because we wanted to inform and convince the sponsor on this because preparations had started and we were ready (to host the event).’’
Tagara said that Naaz and the sponsors will reconvene after the World Champions, look at the Association of International Marathons (AIMS) races calendar as to get the best event outside Africa.
“We want this race to be beacon of athletics performance and our athletes to qualify here,’’ he said.
The event, one of the two marathon events to be hosted in the country under the JM Busha 54 races banner. The Elite marathon, one of the two to be hosted in the country, together with other projects run by Naaz, are bankrolled by JM Busha. The races are meant to promote peace and unity in Africa and the sponsors is hoping to stage 54 races across the continent.
