By Phillip Pasula
MZUZU-(MaraviPost)-After winning gold at Mzuzu City national cross country on February 25 at Mzuzu Golf Course, Chikondi Mwanyali of Civo Athletics Club in Lilongwe is again a gold medallist for the inaugural Mzuzu City half marathon held on Sunday.
Mwanyali, who went away with K1 million cash prize, finished the 21 Kilometre race in 1 hour, 8 minutes and four seconds. Following him for silver medal and K750, 000.00 was Chancy Master from the Malawi Defence Force (MDF) while Macdonald Maganizo from the Support Battalion of the MDF was third, winning a bronze medal and K500, 000.00.
In the ladies’ category, it was 24-year-old Nalise Chirwa of Forever Club in Mzuzu who won gold after covering the same distance for 1 hour, 23 minutes and 44 seconds. She too went away with MK1 million.
Getting MK750, 000.00 and a silver medal on second position was Asimenye Simwaka from the MDF while Doris Fisha from Athletics Mountain Club in Phalombe finished third to win bronze and MK500, 000.00.
Speaking to journalists after winning the marathon, 20-year-old Mwanyali said he emulates the hard working spirit by Kenyan athletes.
“With hard work it’s all possible. I always admire Kenyan athletes and I train with confidence. Given chance to train in Kenya, I can put Malawi higher on the international level. My role model is athlete Joshua from Uganda,” said Mwanyali.
On her part, Nalise Chirwa, said it wasn’t easy but she was so happy to win K1 million.
“This will give me encouragement to work extra hard. I hope to do well even at the international level. I hear we will be sent to Zambia for another competition and I hope do well even there,” she said.
Minister of Youth and Sports, Uchizi Mkandawire who was Guest of honour at the event, hailed the Malawi National Council of Sports, the MDF and Medhealth for organising the event.
“This is the way to go if we are to promote our athletes. Sport is one important area in the 2063 national agenda for us to have a healthy nation. This is why government is pulling resources together to improve infrastructure like the Aquatic Complex and the Griffin Saenda Sports Complex in Lilongwe,” remarked Mkandawire.
Board Chairperson for the Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS), Dr Sunduzwayo Madise, said the Mzuzu City half marathon has come to stay.
“We are grateful to the people of Mzuzu for the support they gave to this whole event. We have learnt lessons so that when we come back next year, the event should even be bigger. We think we can now stage a full marathon in future,” he said.
Madise also bemoaned the state in which Mzuzu Stadium is, describing it as pathetic.
“The facility here is quite embarrassing. The Mayor should be told. We need to ensure that the pitch is in good shape. As council, we can come in to assist if they engage us. This facility is not very big.
“You already have the stands; you have the pitch and the VIP. All it needs is a little bit of patch up and tender loving care. We will engage them if they are slow on this,” remarked Dr Madise.
Next on the athletics calendar is the Blantyre City Marathon to take place in a few months to come.