The Sunday Mail
Tariro Charandura
EVEN for the veterans’ race, Winnet Pawo looked like she was about to bite off more than she could chew.
Curious looks were thrown her way at the starting line of the Tanganda Half-Marathon in Mutare a fortnight ago.
But it was the 60-year-old granny who was to have the last laugh after she not only completed the course, but won the race too.Pawo’s post-race interview was the clincher.
“I completed my race and came first to prove people wrong. I had many youngsters saying that I will faint but I did not because am not like those other women with huge bums” Pawo said with much glee. “Most women do not know how to take care of their bodies and that’s why there are fat.”
Pawo said she perfected her running skills when she served as an assistant to the chief in Marange communal lands.
“The chief would send me to do his errands and being a ‘police officer’ of the chief requires a lot of speed,” she said. “I was in charge of handing over all the offenders to him but some would try to run away so I would go after them, apprehend them and hand them over them to the chief.”
Pawo said serving as an assistant to the chief made her allergic to nonsense.
“Sometimes I hear people laughing at me because I do not have any teeth and I respond by trying to hit them or throwing stones. I may be old but I know kung fu very well so have no problems with defending myself.
“But the critics also give me the desire to prove them wrong. When I saw people watching by the road side and laughing I was even energized and increased my speed,” she said.
Pawo, who also won the JM Busha race, said she kept fit by following a strict exercise routine.
For her efforts at the Tanganda Half-Marathon, Pawo walked away with US$500. Now she has her eyes cast on the Old Mutual Dangamvura Marathon.
“I will win that one again because winning is all I know,” she said.
