Majuru makes instant impact
ONE of Zimbabwe’s top sprinters Panashe Majuru made an instant impact at his new British athletics club — Birchfield Harriers — when he set two new personal best times in the men’s 400m and 400m hurdles events in England at the weekend.
Majuru (21), a surprise omission from Team Zimbabwe for this month’s African Games in Morocco, joined Birchfield Harriers towards the end of last month.
And he ran his first race for his new club during the British Premier League at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham on Saturday.
The former Prince Edward School pupil lit up the track in the men’s 400m (flat race) which he won in a new personal best time of 48.3 seconds.
Majuru was back on the track 24 hours later in Bristol where he took part in the West Midlands League and was again unstoppable in the men’s 400m hurdles, winning his favourite event in another new personal best time of 52.65 seconds to walk away with his second gold medal inside two days.
Second place in this event went to Alasdair Rigby who clocked 59.27 seconds while another Briton Kane Lee settled for third position in 61.12 seconds. Majuru’s winning time in Sunday’s men’s 400m hurdles is now ranked 15th in the UK and sixth in the Under-23s.
He has also helped his new club to qualify to run in the European Athletics Clubs Championships next year and he will be the second Zimbabwean athlete to compete in this elite competition after Lloyd Zvasiya, who is now part of Birchfield Harriers’ coaching staff.
“It was just amazing. My coach (Joseph Caines) and myself had been working on these two races for two weeks,’’ he told The Herald.
“I am now the second Zimbabwean to run in the British Premier League after Lloyd Zvasiya, so it’s an honour,” Majuru said.
Interestingly, Majuru’s move to Birchfield Harriers was engineered by Zvasiya, a former 400m sprinter and a Zimbabwean Olympian who is now based in Birmingham, England.
Zvasiya is also Majuru’s strength and conditioning coach at Birchfield Harriers.
“I can confirm that Panashe Majuru will be running in the European Athletics Clubs Championships next year and he will be the second Zimbabwean athlete to do so after me.
“The club won the league this weekend and they will be running with other European clubs next year,” Zvasiya said. Meanwhile, another top Zimbabwean sprinter Kundai Maguranyanga has stepped up his preparations for this month’s African Games which are set to run from August 16 to 31 in Morocco.
Maguranyanga (20), who is on a four-year athletics scholarship at Drake University in the United States, is part of a strong 15-member track and field team which will represent Zimbabwe in Morocco. The young sprinter is currently on vacation in South Africa where his father, Joseph, lives and yesterday he told The Herald that he is training at the famous High Performance Centre in Pretoria ahead of this year’s African Games where he will represent Zimbabwe in the men’s 200m event. “I am happy to be back in Africa and it’s a good feeling to come for a good cause. I like representing my country.
‘’I have been part of the Team Zimbabwe since I was 15 when we travelled to Lesotho for Cosasa Games. My aim at the African Games is to win medals and qualify for the Olympics next year.