Junior triathletes fight for Africa Cup qualification
TIMES are changing and so Bulawayo giants Highlanders are also moving with modern trends. The oldest club in the country introduced a red kit as their optional colours last season to the amusement and ridicule of the conservative section of the fans.
It was not a mistake, but in line with the organisation's trajectory towards engaging a pro table business strategy.
Highlanders has been using the red kit a lot in the preseason as they prepare for the 2023 Castle Lager Premier Soccer League season.
At this stage it will not be a surprise to see Bosso in blue and white, which are the primary colours of their archrivals Dynamos.
Highlanders insist they will not stop using other colours besides the traditional black and white strip as optional kits in future as a business strategy.
But the good news at the moment is that club chief executive o cer Ronald Moyo (pictured) has said the red kit will not be registered this year.
"We are not (registering the red kit). Optional kits change every time. Liverpool for instance; check their merchandising pattern. Closer to home, Orlando Pirates, Kaizer Chiefs and Sundowns,
" Moyo said.
"We had the red kit as our optional kit last season. Whilst it’s public knowledge that red is part and parcel of the Highlanders history, the decision to introduce other colours for our optional kits are largely commercial.
"We have always said ‘Highlanders must be run as a business’, that’s the business part of it. Clubs we envy and always use as examples for Highlanders to emulate make these decisions for commercial reasons. They play around their optional kits to speak to fashion and activate different markets for their merchandise.
"We are taking baby steps towards that direction as a club, and we are happy that whilst a section of our market didn’t like the red strip, we still had a segment of our target market who liked and bought its replica jerseys."
Highlanders was established in 1926 and used the red colour.
The black and white strip was later adopted as the Matabeleland part was dropped for the team to remain Highlanders and Moyo further explained the commercial inclination attached to the use of other colours. "People don't understand. When it comes to the optional kit you play around colours because that is where you make money in terms of merchandise. Market trends in your traditional colours get saturated.
"Can you imagine with Highlanders there are people who still have the black and white BancABC, replica, the OTB and then there is Sakunda. All are black and white stripes. How do you expect the same people to come and buy the same stripe again this season. They won't. It does not make business sense. The optional kit gives you space to play around fashion to make people buy something new," Moyo said.
Moyo stated that the challenge was that the club is failing to realise generational gaps, which are large in terms of marketing.
"We are a club with people from di erent generations. If you look at the people pushing the narrative that we are strictly black and white; they are a particular generation. If you look at our merchandise now, you rarely nd the youths from your 16-year-olds buying because those traditional colours do not speak to the fashion trends of their generation," he said. But away from the colours, the Highlanders fan will be worried more about the performances of the club which has failed to win the championship since 2006. They will begin their 2023 season campaign at home to ZPC Kariba, before they visit Black Rhinos and then host champions FC Platinum on match day three.
THE country's top junior triathletes will be vying for tickets to the Africa Triathlon Junior Cup when they take part in the selection race at Mt Pleasant Pool today.
Only two athletes Duwan Botha (pictured) and Anje Van As have already quali ed for the continental competition scheduled for Nelson Mandela Bay, Port Elizabeth South Africa on March 19, following their performances at the SA Youth Championships last week.
The Africa Triathlon Junior Cup is open for the Under-19 and Under-17 athletes both male and female.
National team coach Pamela Fulton said today's event is important as far as the selection process is concerned and she is hoping that all targeted athletes will qualify into the nal team.
“This weekend, being the nal quali cation event is a really important one for three athletes who are still in the process of qualifying. Botha and Van As have already quali ed and they gave everything at last weekend’s Maselspoort (South Africa) event, so they most likely will treat this weekend’s race as a training session. I am hoping that all six athletes qualify and we travel with a full team,” she said.
Fulton is encouraged by the team's performance in South Africa last weekend where young Rachel O’Donoghue scooped gold in the girls Under-13 category.
“The Youth team did exceptionally well in the extremely hot conditions in South Africa last week. Rachel O’Donoghue excelled in the U-13 girls category winning gold and beating all the U-15 girls as well.
"The rst timers embraced the whole tour experience, thoroughly enjoyed the tour and gave it their all on race day. It was a huge learning curve for most of them having to pack and assemble their bikes for the rst time.
"Fortunately, all bikes worked well on race day with no mechanical issues. They coped well with the pre-race nerves and pressures, and bonded well as a team,” Fulton said.
Today's programme will be a house full of events with the athletes racing in triathlon, duathlon and aquathlon, a fun and fast-growing sport that combines running and swimming.
The purpose of the selection races is for athletes to get valuable points over a number of races to allow them to be selected for future international tours, beginning with the South Africa Championships which took place last week. Triathlon Zimbabwe will announce the nal team that will be representing Zimbabwe in Port Elizabeth at conclusion of the selection
event.