All set for X-Country
Athletes from all regions of the country will today compete for honours at the National Cross Country Championship at Mzuzu Golf Course.
Athletics Association of Malawi (AAM) General Secretary, Frank Chitembeya, said athletes that impressed in regional races held on February 3, are eligible to compete.
He said they would use the championship to identify a team for Confederation of African Athletics Southern African Cross Country Championship to take place in Mauritius on February 27.
The team will also carry Malawi’s flag at African Cross Country Championship slated for Algiers, Algeria on March 17 2018.
Senior women and men will compete in a 10-kilometre race while junior men and women will challenge for honours in eight and six kilometres, respectively.
“We are not focusing on who scoops first or second positions or whatever, but the times athletes would take to cover such distances.
“We can have an athlete who emerges number one, but takes 33 minutes to complete the indicated distance. That will not count. If we can have one athlete covering 10 kilometres in less than 30 minutes, then we will say we are on the right track,” Chitembeya said.
Individual athlete that will scoop first position will pocket K60, 000, while the runners-up and third-placed athletes will receive K40, 000 and K30, 000, respectively.
In March 2017, Malawian athletes participated in the World Cross Country in Uganda, where they struggled.
But Chitembeya said the athletes’ performance is improving.
“We are proud that athletics is the only sport that brings medals to this country,” he added.
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