All was different, yet most all remained the same. Weather conditions, hills and curves, mud and rocks may make a cross country course challenging, but they don’t deter a true cross country runner. Set in the pouring rain, the second cross country major meet of the season, held at Arundel School on Friday (29 January 2016) proved that there is a consistent group of top cross country junior runners in the Harare area.
The harsh weather conditions and Arundel’s hilly course meant that times for the 4.2 km course run by all girls’ age groups, and the 4.2-7.4 km courses ran by the boys had much slower times overall compared to the sun and flat course of Watershed a week earlier. Yet the top two winners in each age group were almost identical to those who finished first and second in the previous week.
Prince Edward dominated all of the boys’ races, taking five of the six top berths across the age groups, winning the meet for the boys with 131 points. Wellington Madzinga of PE narrowly edged out favorite, teammate Tinashe Gambe, in a sprint finish to win the Open Boys’ 7.4km race in a time of 23.50. Peterhouse Boys took second place with 218 points and St George’s took third with 300. Lomagundi finished fourth and St John’s College sixth.
Peterhouse triathlete U15 Andie Kuipers had the fastest time for the girls overall, finishing the course in the driving rain in 15.35. Peterhouse Girls dominated the top five positions in U15 and Open races, finishing with 128 points. Hosts Arundel showed strong in the U17 category, where after Gateway’s Tinerudo Mawoyo, Margaret Mano took second, and Arundel continued with third and fourth place finishes. Arundel finished second overall for girls in the meet with 281points, with Chisipite coming third with 354 and Lomagundi fourth with 389.
Today’s (5 February 2016) meet at Lomagundi College in Chinoyi, with the most strenuous course of the three, rounds out the short cross country season.
| Event | Position | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | |
| U15 Girls 4.2km | 15.35 Andie Kuipers Peterhouse |
16:13.00 Paige Westhuizen Chisipite |
| U15 Boys 4.2km | 14.29 Tanaka Ndabambi Prince Edward |
14.31 Bernard Mupane Prince Edward |
| U17 Girls 4.2km | 16.57 Tinerudo Mawoyo Gateway |
17.07 Margaret Mano Arundel |
| U17 Boys 6.5km | 22.29 Maruni Chadimoyo Peterhouse |
22.31 Shane Chiraridze Prince Edward |
| Open Girls 4.2 km | 16.54 Sam Bibby Peterhouse |
17.04 Megan Shaxson Peterhouse |
| Open Boys 7.4km | 23.50 Wellington Madzinga Prince Edward |
23:51 Tinashe Gambe Prince Edward |