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Ellinah Mhlanga

Sports Reporter

LOCAL swimmers will this year have a different experience for the national sprint gala that is usually held in Mutare.

It will be held at three different venues across the country.

The swimming season got underway, in earnest, with Harare hosting the first gala last month. Bulawayo had theirs on Saturday.

The rest of the provinces are expected to follow suit soon.

The national event is scheduled to take place this coming weekend in Mutare, Harare and Bulawayo. The move to have the national sprint gala at three different venues has been necessitated by the prevailing situation.

Zimbabwe Swimming chairperson, Tracey Doorman, confirmed competition is going to run simultaneously in the three cities.

“We have the national sprint gala, which will be held simultaneously in Harare, Bulawayo and Mutare.

“Traditionally, it’s in Mutare but when we planned we were not sure what Government travel restrictions would be, due to Covid-19.

“And, also, we thought it might assist parents this year, especially in a situation where they don’t have to incur travel costs.

“It’s just for this year.

“We are able to merge the results on the Hy-Tek programme we use and then the results will be circulated to all provinces.

“It is on Saturday with individual medleys on either Friday or Sunday depending on the venue,” said Doorman.

The gala, which is open to all swimmers, usually attracts, at least, 100 swimmers.

Doorman highlighted they might miss some of the senior swimmers who are writing their Ordinary and Advanced Level exams.

“Any registered swimmer can compete but most seniors may not as they will have started writing O-Level and A-Level exams.