By Athuman Mtulya
At the tender age of 22, Juma Ikangaa ventured into the world of marathon racing—and he has never looked back.  That was in 1982. He made his mark internationally almost immediately, running his first Marathon in Cairo and scooping gold medal. Six weeks later,  he finished second and won silver at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

He recalls: “In the Brisbane marathon, I set a record that will not be forgotten. I was the first African athlete to finish the run under 2:09 in the history of marathon. Bear in mind that it was my first time in a major world championship.”

Ikangaa is undoubtably the most successful marathon athlete in Tanzania. It all began with his passion for the sport in primary school. “It was such a long distance from home to school that the only way to make it on time was to run and that, in turn, helped me build speed and endurance.”

After a year of National Service in 1976, he joined the Tanzania People’s Defence Forces in 1977. “The army sent me to Egypt for military training but that didn’t dampen my passion for marathon,” he recalls. “I trained a lot and, just a year after graduation, I returned there to set a new record.”

Ikangaa was ranked World number one in the marathon twice—in 1986 and 1989. He won the 1986 Tokyo and Fukuoka marathons and in 1989 took the New York City Marathon in a course record of 2:08:01. He also holds a prestigious record of running six sub-2:09 marathons.

Ikangaa is very proud of these achievement—and rightly so.  He says: “We will always remember Mwalimu Nyerere and his companions for setting us free and Tanzania will always remember me for representing them well in the world of sports and bringing back home medals despite difficult conditions.

“The reason why I chose the marathon was to bring fame and victory  to Tanzania in another dimension of athletics after Filbert Bayi made it in the 1500 metres and Suleiman Nyambui in 5000 metres—and I accomplished that.”

From 1982 to 1995, when he ended his athletics career, Ikangaa took part in about 20 international marathons worldwide and finished first in eight of them. He served the army during his entire athletic career and retired at the rank of Colonel in 2009.

“I am expert of artillery and explosive ammunitions,” he says. “I managed to serve both of my passions because there was a proper management system which allowed me to participate fully in the two.”

From 1997 to 2008, Ikangaa served as Secretary-General of Tanzania Amateur Athletics Association, currently Athletics Tanzania (AT). Comparing the current state of athletics to the 1980s, Ikangaa says the country might as well stop dreaming about medals if it will not invest in nurturing new talent.

He adds: “It took me more than 10 years of preparations to make a name in world marathons. Now we prepare athletes for six months or a year and then we dream of medals. That’s impossible. It’s like building castles in the air.”

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