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Sports Reporter
SEASONED distance runner, Collen Makaza, says he is shifting his focus to the Cape Town Marathon.

This follows the cancellation of the International Association Ultrarunners 50km World Championships.

The event was scheduled for October.

But, the International Association of Ultrarunners recently announced the cancellation, saying the safety of athletes and spectators, was their priority.

They also pointed out the need to make sure that participants from all regions had a fair chance to take part in the World Championships. Makaza had secured his place at the championships, when he ran a qualifying time, at the Nedbank 50km Ultra Marathon in South Africa, in May.

The two-time 50km IAU champion, said although he is disappointed, he is now focusing on the Cape Town Marathon, due to take place on October 17, in South Africa.

“The cancellation of this 50km race is a disappointment for us. We just hope, maybe next year, we will get another chance to qualify,’’ said Makaza.

“This pandemic is affecting everyone and sport is not spared. “But, we are now focusing on the 42km, the Cape Town Marathon, which is also in October.” Makaza, who is also a coach, had already started training for the world event, together with some of his athletes.

They are all set to take part in the Cape Town Marathon.

“We were already training with both events in mind because of the uncertainty due to the Covid-19 pandemic,’’ he said.

“We were just saying, at least, we have two options, if one event fails to take place, we will go for the other one, so we still have the one in South Africa.

“We have already registered for the marathon. It has been a tough period for us, sometimes we train and then the events are cancelled, that’s why we were focusing on both races.’’ He is hoping some of his athletes — Canisious Nyamutsita and Carnisios Wenjere — will run good times in South Africa, and qualify for next year’s World Athletics World Championships.

However, they will have to up their game, to reach the qualifying time, of 2 hours 11 minutes 30 seconds.

“I am also pushing for Nyamutsita and Wenjere to try and push for qualification to the World Championships, if things go well.

“We just want to try and see if they can qualify. “The course for the Cape Town Marathon is one of the fast courses, that’s why we are saying let’s work hard.

“Right now, they are just excited that we managed to register them for the race.

“What we want is to get good times and the competition in South Africa gives us that opportunity because athletes from Kenya and Ethiopia have also been invited,” said Makaza.