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| Sports |
| Upcoming athlete wins porters race |
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by
Oris Chimenya, 12 July 2004
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09:11:14
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Upcoming athlete Byson Willy on Saturday emerged winner of the 21-kilometre Mulanje Mountain Porters Race which was organised by the Mulanje Mountain Conservation Trust (MMCT).
Over 300 athletes started off at around 8:30 AM to run the race from Likhubula to Chambe to Lichenya and back to Likhubula.
Hailing from Thuchila area in the district, Willy covered the distance in 2 hours 20 minutes beating Mike Tebulo who finished in 2 hours 23 minutes.
2002 winner of the race Francis Khanje finished in 2 hours 25 minutes on position three.
Willy received a brand new Nokia 3310 cell phone while Tebulo got a bicycle. Khanje was given a radio cassette.
Teenager athlete Tereza Master emerged winner in the female category after she finished the race in 3 hours 5 minutes.
Speaking during the prize presentation ceremony, MMCT director Carl Bruessow congratulated the winners and said the race was meant to create some awareness to preserve Mulanje Mountain.
“There is biodiversity in Mulanje Mountain which needs to be conserved and this race was meant to equip our porters and the local community with necessary information towards that mission.
“But it is a very dangerous sport because they [athletes] run in very rocky and highly forested areas. We just want them to appreciate the nature they live near to,” he said.
Bruessow also said the race has exposed many athletes including Khanje who went for athletics training in Kenya after emerging winner in 2002.
MMCT programme officer Hastings Maloya said it was very interesting to see people covering the distance in less than three hours when it cannot normally be covered in a day.
“This is very wonderful. The distance is very long but even some children under the age of twelve have participated,” he said, pointing at a child who was just arriving.
Other prizes given to runners-up were mattresses, paraffin stoves, paraffin lamps, bags, wallets, caps and T-shirts.
The only dark spot during the race was that some athletes sustained wounds in legs but there was no immediate treatment. 14 athletes were also injured, some of whom fainted.
MMCT was established in 1996 but started its operations in 2002 with objectives of conserving biodiversity, sustaining community livelihood and providing environmental education.
It is funded by the GTZ, Global Environment Facility (GEF), Danish Government and the World Bank.
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