South Africa-based long distance athletes, Peter Chiwaya, Imran Paya, Stanley Mwakhiwa and Gloria Chitedze have sent a consignment of training vests and shoes for the newly-formed Mulanje Athletic Club, which is being managed by international mountain trail long distance (Ultra marathon) specialist, Edson Kumwamba.
And interestingly, the South Africa-based athletes are in touch with Stewart Kambewa, the cyclist who cycled 30.4km saddless up the meandering Masasa-Golomoti escarpment road, popularly known as Khwekhwerere route in aid of the good welfare of needy children at Friends of Mulanje Orphanage (FOMO) homes.
So also sent by the four athletes is children’s trying stuff for FOMO.
“I knew Stewart about a year and a half ago through a report in The Daily Times and the Nation and I discovered in him a humble character whom, when I learnt of his plans to assist FOMO, I asked him if we can work together.
“The four of us here need to see that the youths are excelling in athletics and what we have sent should inspire them to concentrate on their training.”
Chiwaya said the gear was donated by members of their athletic clubs — Atlantic in Capetown for Gloria, Oxford Striders in East London for Chiwaya and Chiltern Athletic Club in Durban for Stanley Mwakhiwa.
“I’m proud to run for Oxford Striders and I would like to thank those who donated some of the stuff. We are still collecting and our duty is to find cash for sending them to Malawi.”
Kambewa said he has agreed with Chiwaya to work together in charitable projects as they both are athletes with passion for charitable work.
“What they have sent is their first donation and they have plans to do more.”
Kambewa said he has already delivered the stuff he collected from well wishers for the Khwekhwerere Challenge, which came from various donors from Blantyre, Lilongwe, Dedza and Mulanje, who heeded his call for the donations.
“The goods included academic notebooks, soap, pens, pencils, adult and children’s clothes,” he said.
On his part, Kumwamba, who rose to fame as an ultra marathon specialists while based in South Africa, said the Malawian athletes decided to assist when he started sharing pictures of his club members training on social media.
“They found out that I share some of my gear with my fellow club members,” he said. “They got so much inspired to learn that we have formed a running club here in Mulanje and they felt that they can also give a hand to inspire my club members to be more motivated with their training.”
In an interview last June, Chiwaya had said he had told his South African club Oxford Striders that Malawian youngsters have the potential to raise the bar in athletics but most of them lack the proper running gear such as shoes and the right vests.
“My goal is to try and reach out to as many potential youths as possible. For me personally, I want youngsters back there to pick up the long distance running at a tender age unlike us who started running when we were older,” Chiwaya had said soon after winning silver medal in last June’s 90km Comrades Marathon, one of South Africa’s worldwide renowned races.
There is quite a good number of Malawians who are slowly stamping their authority in South Africa’s long distance races but have been in incognito until after the Malawian media stumbled of their presence through their regular achievements in their host country.
They include last year’s Blantyre City Marathon runner-up, Doris Fisher, who is from Mulanje District — who ran her first Comrades Marathon in a time of 7:20hrs and earned herself what is known as Roche Kelly silver medal.
She is also the five-time winner of the Mulanje Mountain Porters Race including this year’s event last July.
She relocated to South Africa where she joined Orcus Academy in Durban’s Kwazulu Natal and just before the Comrades Marathon, she won the Empondoland Marathon in Eastern Cape Province.
Chiwaya is from Thyolo District, T/A Changata and is based in East London’s Eastern Cape and running for Oxford Striders Running Club East.
Mwakhiwa, who won the silver medal in the Comrades, is from Nkuthuwa Village, T/A Nazombe in Phalombe running for Chiltern Athletics Club based in Durban together with four other compatriots.
He has been in SA since 2008, working as a landscaper and he says he was an athlete back home in Zomba whilst at St. Pauls Primary School.
“I once participated in the Coca Cola school races when I was at Mangochi Secondary School but I got discouraged because of systematic cheating in which some officials would place some athletes in front of us, say 5km before the finish.
“So I decided to quit and when I came here in RSA, I joined a club as a fun runner and then gradually I took up serious running. I have done several races — six full marathons, four half marathons and three 15km.
“I did the Durban City Marathon in 2:59:07 in 2018, Maritzburg City Marathon in 3:00:07 this year 2019, Deloitte Marathon in 3:02 :05 also this year, Mandela half marathon in 1:21:43 (2019) and the Sap Strites 2019 in 1:20hrs.
Rodrick Dida Phiri, from Nkhata Bay District’s T/A Fuka Mapiri, has done four Comrades and is also running for Chiltern AC. He arrived in Durban 2009 but started running in 2015.
“I never did any running before back in Malawi. I was a football player in my home village but since 2015 I have done several marathon races here and half marathons. My best time for a full marathon (42km) is 2:40hrs and my best for the half (21km) is 1:1hrs,” said Rodrick.
Chitedze, originally from T/A Mkanda Mchinji, is with Atlantic Athletic Club (AAC) in Cape Town while Imran Paya is from Mbulumbudzi in Chiradzulu running with Gugulethu Athletic Club.
Paya is a specialist of 56km Old Mutual Two Oceans since 2010 from which he has won nine medals in total — six of which are silver.
Paya is also a veteran of the 90km Comrades, in which he has raced for seven years since 2011 to earn six medals, five of which are silver.
For April’s Two Oceans, he finished in a time of 5:46hrs to earn the Blue Number, which is a permanent registration identity.