Sande Bashaija
20 May 2011
Hundreds of athletes will converge in Kabale to pay tribute to one of the country’s most revered hurdlers on Saturday.
Peter Rwamuhanda passed on three years ago but his contribution to athletics development is still felt.
“He is the only runner who came close to achieving what John Aki-Bua (RIP) did,” Mackaybeth Akankwasa, one of the memorial event organizers, told Daily Monitor on phone from Kabale.
“It’s unfortunate that the country no longer puts emphasis on hurdles. Down here, we are trying to do our best to revive the event,” he added. Organised by Western Region Athletics Association (WRAA), the Saturday event will see runners compete over several races at Mbale Municipal stadium.
“We have some boys, who have been in camp here for close to three weeks and they should be the ones to beat,” Akankwasa noted.
Born December 1953 in Kabale, Rwamuhanda rose to be the most consistent hurdler after Akii-Bua had won 400m hurdles gold at the 1972 Olympics. The former high jumper snatched bronze at the 1978 All-Africa Games and romped to silver at the 1982 Africa Senior Championships.
He also got a silver medal at the 1982 Commonwealth Games and was part of Uganda’s 4x400m relay team at the 1984 Olympics. A former worker at the Uganda Post Office sports department, he succumbed to cancer on June 8, 2008.
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Uganda: Runners to Honour Rwamuhanda