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Ellina Mhlanga Sports Reporter
HARARE Province retained the National Athletics Association of Zimbabwe inter-provincial track and field championships title after dominating most of the events over the weekend at the National Sports Stadium B Arena.

Being the host province, Harare were the favourites after fielding the biggest team of over 100 athletes as some of the provinces and clubs brought in small teams due to the economic situation.

The hosts picked 43 medals made up of 19 gold, 12 silver and 12 bronze to beat Mashonaland Central to second position with 29 medals, including 15 gold.

Matabeleland South claimed 11 medals to settle for third place while ZRP were fourth and Bulawayo fifth to complete the top five.

The meet, which was also being used by the national association to confirm their team for the African Games, attracted some of the country’s top athletes such as sprinters Ngoni Makusha and Tatenda Tsumba, who were both part of Harare Province.

The two are also chasing qualification times for the IAAF World Championships scheduled for Doha, Qatar, in September and had a good day on the track with Tsumba coming first in the 100m event in 10.22 seconds while Makusha was second in 10.31s.

The two have been working together and Tsumba said they have been pushing each other since last August last after the African Senior Championships in Nigeria.

“It’s good that Ngoni is training with me, so every time in practice we are pushing each other. Sometimes he wins, sometimes I win, so it’s just great competition for me to be running next to him.

“It’s been good, we have been training since August and I feel there is good morale in the camp and it’s good that we have coach (David) Tinago and Keegan (Cooke) working with us. So we are in our best shape,” said Tsumba.

For Makusha the weekend’s competition was a good platform to assess his progress so far.

“My goal for this event was to just enjoy myself, just perfecting my technique and to just see where I am. I am happy with my performance, I am just getting into speed work so it’s a good performance. I was doing more of endurance work, now I am just starting my speed work, so it’s looking good though.

“It was a good competition for us, Tatenda is a good sprinter and he is someone I train with, so we really enjoyed ourselves out there and we gave the crowd something to enjoy,” Makusha said. The competition was also graced by athletes from Botswana, who also gave local athletes a good run for their money.

World Championships-bound Munyaradzi Jari also took part in the 10 000m event as part of his preparations for the global competition.

The inter-provincial championships were combined with the JM Busha Triangular Series final leg, which also saw local athletes displaying some good performances.