When I first came to Zambia, seven years ago, it was said that the first rain comes for
Independence Day, the 24th October, this year in Kafue we are exactly a month late, there have been a couple of showers but nothing more. Today it is very hot, just after a couple of kilometers we see many athletes with the t-shirt in the hands and the sweat coming down from face and chest. The clouds are there but striking, when the wind pushes them under the sun they gift us a few minutes of shade which allows the boys and girls to breath. Like always when we arrive in Chaniana a lot of people comes at the sides of the road to cheer and offer water, Insist Maunga, home idol, was cheered along non-stop in the last kilometers which from the school take to the fishers’ port on the Kafue River. Insist, a program just in the name, runs with us since the beginning in the Juniors he was always among the first ones, now he is a constant presence in the first ten of the Seniors, where though he still misses the victory. His best race of the year was the test for the first Lusaka Marathon of next Saturday where he showed unexpected resistance which leaves us hoping for the best. Continua a leggere
pane, grissini speziati egiziani, marmellata e tante papaye di Chikupi. I bambini mangiano tanto in previsione della prima gara, poi Winnie la più grande, che gareggierà per la prima volta negli over 12, dice ‘prima della partenza, sono sempre un po’ tesa e preoccupata, mi sembra che al via non riuscirò a partire, a correre per tutta la gara, poi dopo lo start e le gomitate, tutto svanisce e penso solo a raggiungere il traguardo’. Ancora non sapeva, che nonostante la TB ossea, che le ha azzoppato la falcata, sarebbe arrivata quinta … per la prima volta …