Nokrach beaten in Arua, top names dominate Kyabazinga

By Norman Katende

Stephen Nokrach had travelled to Arua as a favourite in the sprints, but was shocked by homeboy Muhammad Swaridahab, who jogged to victory in the 400m with ease.

Also South Sudanese Abraham Majoko took the men 1500m event in the west Nile MAYANK regional athletics championships that was held at Barifa grounds in Arua on Saturday.
 

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A long jumper in action

At Bugembe stadium, it was basically the top names that took the day at the Kyabazinga championships Ndejje’s Dorcus Ajok and Prison’s Jimmy Adar taking triple title at the one day event, aimed at giving an opportunity to other runners to try and compete against national stars.

Nokrach stopped by Swaridahab

Prison’s Stephen Nokrach had arrived at Barifa stadium knowing that his double contest was a foregone conclusion with no big names from Kampala to challenge him.

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Scovia Ayikoru competing in the 400m

However, Mohammed Swaridahab, a star in the MAYANK event two years back looked set out to prove that he only needs a worthy coach and better training facilities to make it to team Uganda.
 

And to prove that, Swaridahab clocked the fastest time of the three heats, a 49.5 to win the 400m event from heat 3 with Nokrach, who won the first heat coming home at 49.8s.
 

“He is a good runner, he ran with ease. With more training and god exposure, he can be the top one-lap runner we have,” said Paul Okello, who was in charge of the technical at Arua.
 

Swaridahab had also won the MAYANK event three years back but he got scholarship in one of the Kampala schools that was biased in soccer hence he could not continue with athletics.
 

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South Sudan's Abraham Majoko running for Mvara

“We are just convincing him to come back and we believe we will get him a school that will promote both his education and talent,” said Sam Egama, who is in charge of the region/.

Majoko had no competitor
 

The surprise continued through the 1500m competition when South Sudan Abraham Majok won the event with ease.
 

With little competition at that end, his time of 4 minutes 10 seconds is recommendable and if given a chance to run in a stronger field where he has to push rather than stroll, he can be able to also run below 4 minutes like some of the top Ugandan runners who are open to competition like Jimmy Adar, who ran 4:00 on the same day at Bugembe.
 

“He studies here so the rule does not stop him from competing in such an event,” explained Okello on his competition.
“He is a promising talent.”

Kampala’s Leni and Ayikoru strong

In the women sprints, Shida Leni of Ndejje and Entebbe’s Scovia Ayikoru, who is coming back after an injury, were the strong and after sharing the top two positions in the women 400m, they parted ways.
 

Ayikoru was left in the 100m where she clocked 12.1 second to win with UCU’s Mary Zawadi and Nancy Atizuu coming second and third respectively, while Leni won the 200m event.

Field events
 

There was little to write about in the field events, a reflection of what happens in almost all national events, where fielders lack technical guidance.
 

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Women competing in the 5000m at Barifa

Most athletes lacked basics and were only competing for the sake of being able to win the cash awards provided by MTN as the results were not worth talking about.
 

“They need more training to be able to perform. We will have to talk with their coaches about the basics,” said Peter Okot Omony after watching most of those who were competing in the javelin throw fail to hit the qualifying mark which had been reduced to 46m.

Triple at Bugembe
 

After failing to make it to the Commonwealth Games bound team due in Glasgow, the duo of Dorcus Ajok (Ndejje) and Prisons Jimmy Adar proved to be the dominant forces in Bugembe, winning three titles each.
 

Ajok, who is better at the 800m and 1500m, challenged the sprinters and had no strong competition as she also won the 400m when she beat Kamuli’s Suzan Nakamya and Standard’s Moureen Nandago.
 

Adar, who also competes in the same distances, also chose to fight for endurance, beating Soroti’s Robert Etyang and Iganga’s Enos Kirya in the 5000m event.

Isabirye’s double
 

Musa Isabirye on the other part continued with his comeback after injury by winning a 100m and 200m sprint double.
 

He beat Moses Odong in the 100m event after clocking 10.9 on grass, before beating another competitive field that had Odong and Ndejje’s Anthony Okiror when he clocked 22.1 in the 200m event.
 

Okiror later won the 400m competition when he beat Prison’s Demus Praise and Samuel Andabati in the 1lap race.
 

Kamuli’s Eva Nalumaga was also a double winner in the women 100m and 200m events.

West Nile MAYANK Meet

Selected results
Women
100m
1 Scovia Ayikoru (Entebbe) 12.1
2 Mary Zawadi (UCU) 12.5
3 Nancy Atiziu (Arua District) 13.3
400m
1 Leni Shida (Ndejje) 57.0
2 Scovia Ayikoru (Entebbe) 62.8
3 Night Asibazuyo (Arua) 62.1
1500m
1 Scovia Ocitiru (Arua) 4:44.5
2 Charity Osoru (Arua) 4:45.2
3 Adha Mungulea (Mvara) 4:59.4
Men
100m
1 Stephen Nokrach (Prison) 11.0
2 Eric Oyirwoth (Mvara) 11.2
3 Johnson Odiya (Ndejje) 11.2
400m
1 Muhammed Swaridahab (Arua) 49.5
2 Stephen Nokrach (Prison) 49.8
3 Johnson Odiya (Ndejje) 50.9
1500m
1 Abraham Majoko (Mvara) 4:10.3
2 Fred Ariwale (Moyo) 4:12.8
3 Pontius Alini (Arua) 4:14.9
5000m
1 Pontius Alini (Arua) 15:33.9
2 Innocent Adaku (Arua) 15:45.2
3 Stephen Adaku (Moyo) 15:51.2

Kyabazinga selected results
WOMEN
100m
1 Nalumaga Eva (Kamuli Dist) 13.1
2 Najemba Specioza (Kamuli Dist) 13.5
3 Nakitimbo Jane (Kamuli Dist) 13.6
200m
1 Nalumaga Eva (Kamuli Dist) 27.5
2 Najemba Specioza (Kamuli Dist) 28.1
3 Nakitimbo Jane (Kamuli Dist) 28.3
400m
1 Ajok Dorcus (Ndejje) 1:50.4
2 Nakamya Suzan (Kamuli Dist) 1:02.6
3 Nandago Moureen (Standard) 1:03.2
800m
1 Ajok Dorcus (Ndejje)
2 Nandago Moureen (Standard)
3 Nakamya Suzan (Kamuli Dist)
1500m
1 Ajok Dorcus (Ndejje) 4:34.7
2 Akwero Sarah (Standard) 4:72.3
3 Nandago Moureen (Standard) 4:62.3
5000m
1 Nakawala Sarah (Standard) 17:28.5
2 Nantumbwe Cissy (Kamuli Dist) 19:24.5
3 Kolikol Miriam (Standard) 19:25.8
Triple jump
1 Nalumaga Eva (Kamuli Dist) 10.31
2 Oroma Emmanuela (Police) 10.11
3 Nakitimbo Jane (Kamuli Dist) 10.09
Long jump
1 Oroma Emmanuela (Police) 4.84
2 Nalumaga Eva (Kamuli Dist) 4.72
3 Hamza Amin (Ndejje) 4.20
Men
100m
1 Isabirye Musa (Prisons) 10.9
2 Odong Moses (Ndejje) 11.1
3 Odiya Michael (Prisons) 11.3
200m
1 Isabirye Musa (Prisons) 22.1
2 Okiror Anthony (Ndejje) 22.4
3 Odong Moses (Ndejje) 22.6
400m
1 Okiror Anthony (Ndejje) 50.0
2 Demus Praise (Prisons) 50.5
3 Andabati Samuel (Prisons) 51.1
800m
1 Adar Jimmy (Prisons) 1:55.4
2 Balimumiti Geoffrey (Kamuli Dist) 1:55.7
3 Andabati Samuel (Prisons) 1:58.1
1500m
1 Adar Jimmy (Prisons) 4:00.1
2 Balimumiti Geoffrey (Kamuli Dist) 4:00.7
3 Etyang Robert (Soroti) 4:08.1
5000m
1 Adar Jimmy (Prisons) 16:30.5
2 Etyang Robert (Soroti) 16:56.2
3 Kirya Enos (Iganga Dist) 17:48.7
Javelin
1 Senoga David (KCCA) 60.86
2 Okello Robert (Prisons) 57.36
3 Opio Oscar (Prisons) 56.30
Triple jump
1 Bitek Francis (Ndejje) 14.38
2 Opiyo Oscar (Prisons) 13.72
3 Odoch Muzamilu (Ndejje) 13.64