Zomba Athletics Academy dominates at Blantyre Under-20 Athletics Championship

* Zomba competed in 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, Medley relay as well as field events of javelin, discus and shot putt

By Duncan Mlanjira

Zomba Athletics Academy, which continues to nurture talent from grassroots up to international level, were on top of the awards at the Blantyre Under-20 Athletics Championship on Monday,mOctober 16 held at Lunzu Secondary School.

They competed in 4x100m relay, 4x400m relay, Medley relay as well as field events of javelin, discus and shot putt.

In 4x400m boys Chiumia Boot Camp came 1st in a time of 46:73secs while Zomba Academy came second in 47:90secs with Lilongwe’s CIVO Service Athletics Club clinching third in 49:8secs.

Zomba Academy then took first position in 4x100m boys in 3:35.8 followed by CIVO Service Athletics Club in 3:43.86 and Blantyre’s Chiumia Boot Camp in 3:51.20.

Medley relay was also won Zomba Athletics Club in 4:30.17 followed by Chiumia Boot Camp in 4:59.70 with Tauka Athletics Club of Blantyre taking third place in 5:11.59 while Lilongwe’s CIVO Service Athletics Club were 4th in 5:20.49.

Zomba had Mwai Chimera, Blessings Mwalure, Maria Minjale and Hilda Maida in Medley relay; Blessings Mwalure, Mwai Chimera, Hassan Madeya, Andrew Chimera in 4x400m relay; Watson Mussa, Owen Nsonkho, Blessings Mwalure and Mwai Chimera in 4x100m.

In the field events of discus girls, Zomba’s Deborah Makwasa attained position 1 with her teammate Maria Minjale in position 2 while Hassan Madeya attained position 2 in shot putt boys.

Javelin boys was also won by Zomba through Mwai Chimera position 1 with team mate Owen Nsonkho taking position 2. Javelin girls saw Zomba’s Maria Minjale in position 2

The domination went through to long jump as in boys it was won by Watson Mussa while Andrew Chimera took position 3. Zomba also won the girls long jump through Hilda Maida in position 1 and Eneless Makumba in position 2.

Eneless, who is deputy matron of Zomba Athletic Club, only participated in solidarity but was not included to the final results.

The Academy’s 10 athletes have in the past year represented Malawi in international meetings and one of them includes a successful paralympic athlete Paralympic, Mphatso Saukile — who participated at the African Union Sports Council (AUSC) Region 5 Youth Games in December 2022 in 400m and 800m Regional 5 Games in Lilongwe where he won two gold medal in 800m and 400m.

He also represented the country in Venice, Italy at the Jesolo Grand Prix  from May 12-15 where he was second in 1500m and 5th in 400m in Open-aged competition.

One of the athletes, Kesten Banyira — an up-and-coming athlete with potential to represent Malawi — won the annual Chawe 10km Zomba Mountain Reforestation Race on September 9 while another of the Academy’s product finished second.

The Academy is managed by founder Benedicto Makumba, who is husband to Eneless and for an athlete to join the Academy, they stress on academic pursuant and those in needy, the Academy pays for their fees at secondary school level.

The successful Blind T12 paralympic athlete Paralympic, Mphatso Saukile also attends school and is at primary level.

Benedicto, who is a Malawi Defence Force (MDF) soldier and is currently in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) on peace-keeping mission, continues to appeal to wellwishers to sponsor the Academy for the development of the sport at grassroots, which is their main focus.

“I am keen to develop Zomba Academy to be a reliable pool of athletes where sports authorities can tap talent from for national representation — but we lack the financial and equipment resources,” he said in an earlier interview when he was in the country for his holidays.

He paid for 10 of his athletes’ school fees and other academic needs when he came for the holidayy with funds he earns through his own business resources and contributions from the academy’s development partners.

The Academy has 47 athletes in total and he confesses that to sustain the athletes’ academic needs is a great challenge — thus he always appealing to wellwishers since the numbers are rising.

Makumba, who is also the national and southern Africa champion in 800m and 1500m, says those wishing to support his efforts of encouraging the athletes to also pursue their academic dreams, can deposit to Zomba Branch of the FDH Bank — Account name: Zomba Athletics Development Center; Account number: 1210000450527.

He disclosed that both he and Eneless are not signatories of the bank account, saying he just supervises on their needs and allows them to make withdraws while demanding for receipts, which he keeps in custody for auditing.

Zomba Academy came to more public prominence when the matron Eneless volunteered to participate at Standard Bank Be More Race in June and the Malawi National Council of Sports’ Blantyre 42.195km Race in July as a charity to raise funds to reconstruct houses for Mphatso Saukile’s and Owen Saiti families — that collapsed due to Cyclone Freddy.

Following media coverage Standard Bank responded by donating K1 million during the Race’s prize giving and Sports Council reciprocated with a further K1.6 million.

Benedicto supervised the reconstruction of two houses during his holiday from DRC and were completed and handed over before returning to duty.