AFTER successfully defending his Abu Dhabi City 10km marathon title last week, United Arab Emirates-based Zimbabwean middle distance runner Royal Mabika is aiming to impress at the Izmir Half Marathon in Turkey later this year.
The 28-year-old who was participating in his first major race after recovering from a four-month injury lay-off, clocked a time of 30:26 in the 10km race at the resort Yas Island to retain the title he won last year.
Mabika is excited about winning the race and believes he can kick on from here to win faster races and international competitions in the near future.
Apart from the Izmir 21km marathon set for August, Mabika is also targeting to compete in two more races in Abu Dhabi before year end.
“Winning the Yas City Half marathon for the second time restored my running confidence,” Mabika told NewsDay Sport.
“I ran 30:26 which was slightly slower than what I recorded last year. This is all because the course was just the same tough and difficult.”
“l am targeting to compete in faster races this season as I am obviously building up towards my main marathon event in Turkey in a few months' time. I have realised that l needed more time to train and prepare for the marathon event. Locally, I have two top full marathons, the Adnoc Abu Dhabi marathon and Dubai marathon which l will add on to the list to compete in later this year."
Mabika credited his success to the support that he is getting from sponsors and his management team.
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"l want to appreciate Puma Middle East and my manager Gallie Kawanzaruwa for being very supportive throughout the whole preparations,” the athlete said.
The Izmir race was last year dominated by Kenyans with Frank Ngelel taking the gold in a time of 1:04:40 while his compatriot Kibil Meshack came second four seconds behind.
