Tanzania select 12 runners for World Athletics

ARUSHA: A TOTAL of 12 athletes have been selected to form the national crosscountry team which is being outfitted to represent Tanzania in the 2024 World Athletics Cross Country Championships.

This year’s championships will take place in the Serbian capital of Belgrade on March 30th this year. The Tanzanian National runners to represent the country there include six men; five women and one Under-20 candidate were named in Arusha during the National Cross-country championships.

The National CrossCountry competition was held at Ilboru Secondary School’s Sports grounds. According to the Acting Secretary General for Athletic Association of Tanzania (AT) Jackson Ndaweka the selected athletes will soon be entered into preparatory camps alongside those warming up for the commonwealth games.

“Some of the chosen representatives were also part of the National team for the forthcoming All African Games’ and the two events are only one-week apart,” said the Athletics Tanzania official.

The All African Games events take place from the 8th to 23rd March, in Ghana while the World Cross-country racing starts on the 30th of March 2024 in Serbia. Speaking here, the Secretary of Arusha Athletics Association, Rogath Steven said he was happy that all runners from the region have made it into the national team.

“Arusha has also been chosen to play the host, because the preparatory camps for the National team are going to be based in the region,” added Steven.

According to the official, last year Tanzania performed well in World Athletics that is why the country’s participatory quota was increased to 12 participants from the only four that represented the country last year.

Originally the World Cross-Country event was due to take place in Croatia, but the World Athletics Council realised that preparations at Medulin and Pula in Croatia to host the event on February 10, had not been advanced sufficiently, therefore shifted the stage to Serbia.

Juliana Mwamsuva who coordinates the Tanzania Youth Athletics Championships (TAYAC) said she was impressed by the National Cross-country event which was well organised and featured extremely capable sports men and women.

“Arusha also suits its current position as the basic venue for National athletics events,” she added