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Collin Matiza Sports Editor
ONE of Zimbabwe’s top track and field athletes, Panashe Majuru, has broken into the professional ranks in the United Kingdom after he was snapped up by top British athletics club Birchfield Harriers.

Birchfield Harriers is the UK’s premier athletics club based at Perry Barr in Birmingham, and they recently recruited the 21-year-old sprinter and hurdler.

Majuru, a former pupil of Prince Edward School in Harare, was in Wales last weekend where he competed for the first time as a member of the Birchfield Harriers Athletics Club during the Welsh Senior Championships  at Cardiff International Sports Stadium. The athlete took part in the men’s 400m hurdles and finished second in 55.08 seconds to walk away with a silver medal in the presence of Welsh Olympic legend Lynn Davies. Majuru came second behind New Zealand’s top international hurdler Cameron French who clocked 52.33 seconds.

And top UK-based Zimbabwean athletics coach Stanley “Fresh” Madiri believes Majuru will blossom into a top worldclass athlete following his move to Birchfield Harriers Athletics Club.

“Birchfield Harriers are indeed one of the oldest athletics clubs in terms of the history of athletics in the UK.  ‘’They are are based in the Midlands and thrive from the recruitment and patronage from the huge communities of ethnic minorities of African and Carribean heritage in the city of Birmingham and surrounding towns like Coventry and Wolverhampton.  “Because they have teams in the A and B leagues they also attract athletes from all over the UK who want to compete in those elite races.

‘’The  system is such that any athlete can join any club for the purposes of desired competition.  ‘’Athletes don’t have to have a geographical affinity nor residence with a club, indeed they don’t need to train or be coached at the club. “A Zimbabwean athlete – Panashe Majuru – has been in touch for some advice; and was competing for Birchfield Harriers last week in Cardiff even though he now lives in the south almost four hours away in Kent,” said Madiri, from his base in Bedfordshire, England, yesterday.

Majuru’s move to Birchfield Harriers Athletics Club was engineered by former top Zimbabwean sprinter and Olympian, Lloyd Zvasiya, who is now based in Birmingham, England.

Next up for Majuru is the British Premier League event on August 4.