Athletics: Musagala Wins National Trails On His Return
By: Hassan Sendija
Ronald Musagala returned on truck in a perfect way.
The 1500 meter runner, Ronald Musagala won the 6th National Athletics trails held at Namboole Stadium on 24th April 2021.
Musagala was making his first truck since Covid 19 Outbreak in the country in early 2020.
On his return, Musagala had to compete with the 5000/10000 meters record holder Joshua Cheptegei Kiprui and Kenyan Etiang Kamar. But Musagala beat them hands down.
Cheptegei was looking to improve on his speed by running this race (1500m) and he was in front of any body until the final lap when he was over teken by Kenyan Kamar Ettiang who also lost to Musagala in final 100 meters of the race.
The race which counted as Tokyo Olympics games qualifiers saw Musagala beating the Standard qualifying time for Olympics which is 4:04.20.
He recorded 3:36:63 time in that race.
Musagala was not the only man to beat the Olympic qualifying time, Kamar and Cheptegei also did, 3:36.80 and 3.37.36 respectively.
After recording the perfect time, Musagala assured Ugandans to expect good performance at Olympics games for him “Despite the hectic life we have been going through due to Covid 19, no access to training ground but I remain as Ronald Musagala, I am working for Olympics and I am good enough to get a medal there” He said after the race.
“To win today is not Important but it is a good sign beating Kamar it is not easy he is very good. Winning Cheptegei is difficult we all admire his speed and I just want to be like him” He added.
In other trails, Mathew Chekwurui, Martin Masau and Oscar Kibet all beat qualifying time of 31:25.00 as they recorded 29:01.09, 29:07.7 and 29:20.72 in 10000 meters.
The other race which saw some perfections was 800 meters, its standard qualifying time is 1:59:50. This was won by Kenyan Hillary Biwott after timing 1:46.26 followed by Osuje Emmanuel with his time being 1:47.97 while Tom Drafiga came third 1:50.37 which also under standard qualifying time.
In women races the star of the day was Shida Lani winning the 200 and 400 meters but failed to hit the entry time mark as no single woman recorded the right time.