Holiday training pays off for Elite Athletics Squad.
Three of the new-look Chengelo Elite Athletics Squad traveled to Lusaka to compete at the All-Comers Challenge on Saturday 23rd April. The three Bangala siblings, along with David Kumwenda, have been training during their school holidays to get into shape for this event. Sadly, David was struck down with malaria earlier in the week and was unable to travel.
Maria and Johanna were placed in the same 400m heat and both looked comfortable as they led from the front in their race. Johanna's trademark fast start put her into the lead as the official commentator admired both girls' "excellent strides". Maria, running in lane 8, did not let her lane draw faze her as she concentrated on her own race. Johanna came into the final straight in the lead and pushed hard through the line to smash her previous personal best by 1.27 seconds and record a new best time of 56.72 seconds. Maria came under late pressure from the athlete in lane 7 but finished fast and crossed the line in 59.65 seconds.
Emmanuel Bangala was running in his first All-Comers Challenge and, at 12 years old, was much younger than the rest of the field. He focused on maintaining a decent pace and, despite finishing last, recorded a new personal best of around 1 minute 3 seconds (official time to be posted later).
The athletes will now look forward to upping their training in a bid to run even faster times at the ISAZ Athletics Qualifiers in 4 weeks' time.
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| The new-look squad! |
