Champion of Champions Race gives Squad good exposure in Lusaka.

CEAS making names for themselves after Lusaka races.

 Left to right: Maria, Kikwanza and Johanna.

Three of the Chengelo Elite Athletics Squad qualified in the top eight athletes in the country this year for their respective distances and therefore were invited to the “Champion of Champions” event at the Olympic Youth Development Centre in Lusaka on Saturday. Sisters Maria and Johanna Bangala ran in the women’s 400m and Kikwanza Sondashi ran in the men’s 100m.

Maria and Johanna pray before their race.

The whole Bangala family came to support the girls and it was a great opportunity for Maria and Johanna’s younger brothers to draw inspiration from the cream of Zambian athletics. Emmanuel, 10 years old, had the chance to try out starting blocks for the first time before the races got started and he enjoyed every second!

 Emmanuel Bangala enjoys using the starting blocks.

After the 200m, 5000m and 1500m races were over, the Bangala girls were called for their 400m race. As usual, Johanna was fast out of the blocks and quickly seized the lead, closely followed by Maria. However, at the 250m point, Rachael Nachula showed her power as she took over first position. Johanna battled through the final 100m and claimed third place in a time of 58.63 seconds, with Maria finishing strongly in fifth place in a time of 60.21. These were new personal bests and a great achievement for the girls, who were 64-second runners at the beginning of the year.

 Johanna and Maria both achieved personal best times in their 400m.

 Maria and Johanna focus before their race.

 The girls push hard down the home straight.

Maria dips at the line to record a P.B. of 60.21 seconds.

Kikwanza Sondashi has also had an excellent year, lowering his personal best from 11.34 seconds to 10.88 seconds and he was up next in the men’s 100m. Unfortunately for Kikwanza, the starting blocks were not adjusted according to his preference and he failed to get a good start. He recovered well though, finishing fourth in a time of 11.31 seconds.

 Kikwanza finishes 4th in his 100m race.

Kikwanza will hope to run a faster race at the next All-Comers Challenge.

 Kikwanza (right) was running in lane one.

 Kikwanza trying to keep up with the race leader.

Once again, the athletes received plenty of interest from coaches and fellow athletes and are starting to make names for themselves on the Zambian athletics scene. Former 400m World Champion Samuel Matete was especially keen to help nurture the talented Chengelo Squad and will hopefully be paying a visit to the school in the near future to share some of his expertise.

The next event could be the All-Comers Challenge in October, where the squad will look to make further improvements on their personal bests.