The ManicaPost
Ray Bande Senior Reporter
“I think Troutbeck is the ideal place to host such events. If you ask me as the general manager of Toutbeck Resort, my vision is to expand from just hosting triathlon. In terms of the vision, we have been looking at ways to host hiking, mountain bike races or trail biking.
“We have also been thinking along the lines of hosting trout fishing competitions.
“I think as a resort area, together with other areas in the eastern highlands, we have great potential to revive the spirit of sports tourism.”
These were the words of Troutbeck Resort general manager Charlton Chimbira in an interview on the sidelines of the recent Bonaqua Troutbeck ATU Sprint Junior Triathlon African Cup held at Troutbeck Resort in Nyanga.
Sports tourism can be described as the initiative of people travelling to a place to engage in sports-related activities or travel to view such sports-related activities.
Sports tourism is becoming a popular trend worldwide just like what other forms of tourism such as cultural tourism, religious tourism, music tourism and safari tourism are doing.
The first category of sports tourists travel to sports-related activities in order to actively participate in sporting disciplines for employment or income generation purposes. Such travellers might be the sportsmen or women themselves or their support staff. Others might take active roles in sport just for leisure purpose.
The second class of sports tourists travel to sports venues to witness sport events happening.
Events that tend to attract tourists include Olympic Games, world cups such as International Federation of Association Football (FIFA) World Cup, International Cricket Council (ICC) World Cup and Rugby World Cup.
Continental cups like Union of European Football Association (UEFA) Champions League and African Cup of Nations (AFCON) are also sports tourist attractions.
The third group of people travels to popular sports-related destinations that have historical significance or they are still being used in this era.
The Olympia area in Greece is one of the historical sport related building that attracts scores of people to that country. In 2012, it was visited by over five million people.
At a time when the country’s new administration is seeking ways to transform the economy, tourism is regarded as a low-hanging fruit, with potential to widen the employment base and help alleviate poverty in the short to medium term.
The involvement of travellers in sporting events, in an active or passive form, has become a worldwide phenomenon, and studies indicate the trend would increase at a compound rate.
It is against this background that the Bonaqua Troutbeck ATU Sprint Junior Triathlon African Cup appears to be setting the tone in unmasking the value the nation can derive from sports tourism.
The 70-roomed Troutbeck Resort, a three star hotel that also boasts of spacious self catering time shares, was fully booked last weekend with participants at this years’ event coming from countries such as Ireland, Luxemburg, Belgium, Germany and South Africa among many other countries.
Troutbeck is selected owing to the requirement for a guaranteed clan, disease and animal free stretch of open water within Zimbabwe for the swim element.
This water quality is critical to the ITU requirements for hosting international events and has to comply with specific health requirements for open water swimming.
A demanding event held at an altitude of 2 000m and over hilly terrain, the close proximity of the venue to a good tarred road for the cycle section as well as central location for all aspects of the event for the spectators and athletes alike.
This includes accommodation and full catering facilities on site and other alternative option close by in the form of cottages, time shares and other hotels-sport tourism related facilities.
A close working relationship built up over twelve previous events at the resort with African Sun hotels (owners), Legacy Resorts management and the local authorities has endured the test of time.
Chimbira said: “The sports tournaments actually bring us a lot of business. They give us awareness in as far as the brand is concerned. They also help us in terms of expanding our activities over to the market.
“So it is really helpful in terms of meeting our financial targets as a company. We are quite happy that we have managed to host the 13th edition of the Bonaqua Troutbeck ATU Sprint Junior Triathlon African Cup.
“In terms of the guest feedback that we have put together, it has been amazing.
“It is fantastic to hear people from far afield talking good things about the services that we offer. They love the atmosphere. They love the ambience. They enjoy the serenity.
“They have also praised to hospitality of the staff as well as the general public and I think this has more to do with the nature of Zimbabweans being welcoming. It is so encouraging.
“Most of them say they want to come back. Most of them have been talking about spreading the word when they get back home.”
With its expensive bikes and other paraphernalia, triathlon consists of swimming, cycling and running competed as one continuous event over a number of predetermined distances.
The Troutbeck ATU Triathlon African Cup is an international sanctioned event by the international triathlon union ITU with a 13 year history of being staged in Zimbabwe. It is the longest running event of this level on the African Continent.
The event has grown to include local Triathlon events, such as national championships, an open water swim (The Troutbeck Mile), a corporate team Triathlon relay challenge, aquathlon (swim -run-swim) and in 2018 , an extension of popular entry level events, tri-kids at the Nyanga event to capitalise on the family element.
The event meets stringent ITU event organiser standards with regards to safety and athlete experience and has a reputation of top -flight organisation combined with typical Zimbabwean hospitality.
Essentially these events are to assist African athletes with their qualification points by hosting events on the continent to avoid travelling further afield to complete at the same level.
The Bonaqua Troutbeck ATU Sprint Junior Triathlon African Cup does not, however, exclude non-African athletes and there were athletes competing from wide range of foreign countries.
The event is part of an international circuit, strictly sanctioned by the ITU and run across all of the continents.
These events are particularly important to athletes during the two year Olympic qualification process (also point based) leading up to the Olympic Games competition June 2018 to May 2020.
In 2018, organisers realigned the elite event to a 750m swim/20km bike /5km run course owing to the scheduling of the event earlier on the international calendar as well as taking into consideration the severity of the course based on the altitude and terrain.
The cycle and run will then be used for other triathlons that will do distances proportionate to each other.
This event has now been elevated to an ITU junior African cup status so that junior athletes gain ITU ranking points that will enable them to race internationally and enhance development projects, camps and initiatives.
