Malawi’s athletes on Sunday clinched position 11 at the 2017 World Cross Country Championship in Kampala, Uganda, with Kefasi Kasiteni emerging 55th out of 132 runners in the senior men’s category.
Kasiteni and compatriot Chancy Master, who finished on position 72, clocked 31:16 and 31:49 respectively to beat the standard qualifying time of 32 minutes.
Last minute inclusion, Gervasio Mpani, narrowly missed the standard qualifying time as he crossed the finish line in 32:05 and was ranked on position 80.
Malawi’s worst performer was Harry Sichali who was ranked on 103 with 33:26 in a 10-kilometre race which Kenya’s Geoffrey Kipsang won in 28:24.
Malawi’s only representative in the Junior women’s category, Cecilia Mhango, finished 97th out of 108 runners in a race which Ethiopia’s Gidey Letesenbet won.
In coming 11, Malawi did better than countries such as Peru, Canada, Japan, Botswana, Sudan and Nigeria.
South Africa, who managed an overall ranking of nine, are the only Southern African team to have done better than Malawi.
Athletics Association of Malawi President, Godfrey Phiri, described the Malawians’ performance as encouraging, considering the challenges they encountered on the way to the event.
“They were on the road for four days and only arrived in Uganda in the early hours of Saturday. This means they only rested for a day before competing on Sunday. They performed against the odds. We are impressed,” Phiri said.
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