The sixth edition of the 42.195 kilometres (km) Blantyre race stumbled by doctored results after alleged Athletics Malawi (AM) technical officials wrongly underestimated the distance when they redesigned the route, Malawi News Sport can reveal.
Our findings show that the route was cut short by about 10km, which culminated in athletes covering the distance much earlier than expected.
According to our sources, Malawi National Council of Sports (MNCS), financers of the race, have since called for a technical report to draw lessons to avoid a repeat of the incident in future events.
AM technical officials were allegedly forced to connive and doctor the results after men’s champion Mphatso Nadolo finished the alleged 42.195km distance much earlier, in what would have been a world record—having posted one hour 48 minutes and some seconds.
According to worldathletics.org, the current world record time for men over the distance is 2 hours and 35 seconds, set in the Chicago Marathon by the late Kelvin Kiptum of Kenya on October 8 last year.
Tigst Assefa of Ethiopia set the women’s world record in the Berlin Marathon on September 24 last year, running in 2 hours 11 minutes and 53 seconds.
However, when Nadolo finished the race earlier than expected, it sent shockwaves down the spine of organisers, who reacted by adjusting the times to be in line with what were deemed as normal standards.
Nadolo was equally puzzled with his performance and attributed his exploits to a reconstructed route.
When Times 360 Sports journalist Peter Fote asked Nadolo to explain how it was possible to cover the 42.195km distance in one hour 49 minutes, the South Africa-based athlete said it was not his fault but that the route had been twisted.
“Route iyi ayisitha. Route iyi ayibweza. Pena pake ayikhotetsa uku. Anangopanga sanayiyeze. Ndadabwanso chifukwa watch yanga imayenda bwino bwino sinawonongekepo [The route has been changed. This route has been shortened. They reduced it without measuring it. I am also surprised [with the time] because my wristwatch works well],” Nadolo said.
Realising the glaring mistake, officials doctored results so as to hide their flaw but the results do not stand officially and cannot be used as official records.
One of the sources from the organising committee said they decided to award prizes to the race’s top athletes since it was not their mistake.
“Much as the results do not stand, the athletes were not to blame. The organising committee went ahead to award prizes to the winners because it would have been injustice.
“However, the records do not stand,” the source said.
According to our investigations the route was tampered with at not less than three points which affected the length of the distance.
“The first change came at Independence Arch. Instead of turning towards the direction of Blantyre Cultural Centre, the athletes had to connect to the Chinyonga road. Another change was at Njamba Roundabout, where the athletes went straight to Kamba, Naperi, instead of going up towards the TVM direction.
“Another notable change was along the Kamuzu University of Health Sciences route, where the athletes had to take an alternative route to pass through Mandala instead of the one at Red Cross near Mosque stage,” the source said.
Our investigations show that only one official from the four [names withheld] who designed the first route was involved in the charting of the new route.
“Remember, at some point, the route was going up to Magalasi and Machinjiri townships but it was redesigned to make it a loop in custom with modern trends. It appears that other members of the technical team who were among the [people] redesigning the route in the first place were neglected due to changes of leadership at Athletics Malawi,” another source said.
Some athletes are also crying foul as they feel cheated on the issue of distance.
“In athletics, a metre is more than enough to change the results. Here we are talking about 10km and the outcome could have changed.
“However, if we come in the open and complain, they will start sidelining us,” one of the athletes said.
AM General Secretary Nicholas Kanyenda admitted that the race was marred by a technical error in distance.
However, he refused to take more questions, referring us to the association’s president Kondwani Chamwala, who could not be reached on his two mobile numbers.
MNCS Commercial and Marketing Director Limbani Matola was yet to respond to our questionnaire.
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