Cross country contingent set for depature

Arusha. A 40-member national squad for the IAAF Cross Country Championship slated for Kampala, Uganda on Sunday, leaves here tomorrow.

The 28 athletes, who have been training here for the last 24 days, will be handed over the national flag by the minister for Information, Culture, Arts and Sports, Nape Nnauye before departure. The team will be accompanied by 12 officials, according to the secretary general of Athletics Tanzania (AT), Wilhelm Gidabuday.

The national flag will be handed over to the squad at the Tanzania National Parks (Tanapa) headquarters. The conservation agency is one of the main sponsors of the team.

Gidabuday added that from Arusha, the team will travel to the Ugandan capital by road through Manyara, Singida, Tabora,Shinyanga and Kagera regions.

The AT boss said that this was the first time Tanzania is sending a large contingent to the competition and that this has already drawn eyebrows from neighbouring Kenya, one of the world’s leading athletic powerhouse.

The technical bench of the Tanzania squad is led by Francis John, the national athletics coach, who trained the national team for last year’s Rio Olympics. Others in the bench are Petro Meta, Naasi Dengwe, Thomas Tlanka, Francis Nade, Zakaria Barie, Tullo Chambo, Nassoro Mtuzya and Lwiza John.

The athletes are Emmanuel Giniki, Basil John, Gabriel Geay, Fabian Joseph, Wilbado Peter and Josephat.

Women runners are Magdalena Shauri, Angelina Tsere, Failuna Abdi, Sara Ramadhani, Jackline Sakilu and Siata Kalinga. They will take part in the 10-kilometre race.

Also on the list are Francis Dambel, Yohana Elisante, Ramadhani Juma, Elisha Wema, Anthony Wema and Joshua Elisante, who will compete in the 8-kilometre race.

Women who will run in six-kilometre event are Cecilia Ginoka, Maicelina Issa, Asha Salum, Noela Remy, Elizabeth Boniface and Amina Mgoo. Those who will take part in the relay are Faraja Damas, Marco Sylvester, Sicilia Panga and Jackline Juma. Gidabuday said he was seeing the prospects of Tanzania winning medals in the race which is being held in East Africa for the second time after Mombasa hosted it in 2007. “It is the first time that we are sending a huge contingent. This demonstrates how serious we are to ensure did not come back home empty-handed,” he told reporters here recently. Gidabuday said many athletes preferred the Ilboru venue venue for training due to the favourable weather. The Police College in Moshi was earlier suggested as a venue for the pre-competition drills.