More than 300 runners gathered before sunrise at Chimbumu grounds in Budiriro 1 on 30 August 2026 for a fun run and health expo organised by the Seventh-day Adventist Budiriro and Glen Norah districts.

Races over 5km, 10km, 21km and 35km started at 5:30 a.m., followed by a health expo that ran from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. The districts organised the event with the City of Harare's Glen View/Budiriro social services department and the Avondale Adventist Athletics Club.

Organisers designed it as a point of contact ahead of an evangelistic campaign in the area from 13 to 26 September 2026.

"These days if you want to do the traditional evangelistic methods, it is very difficult to get people, because people are busy, people's attention is being taken by social media and so forth," said Pastor Nicholas Mangwende, District Pastor for Budiriro District in the North Zimbabwe Conference. "Things have changed. But many people are interested in athletics, so as a church we tried to use the Christ method of going where people are, engaging them, and then, after winning their interest, bidding them follow Him."

Registration data bore out the approach. "The bigger number of participants are non-Adventist," Mangwende said. "As we were doing the registration, we discovered that about 60 per cent of the participants were non-Adventist."

Among them was Onifai Nyikadzino, 63, who ran the 35km and finished in the top ten.

"I started running when I was around 15 years old, and I haven't stopped since," Nyikadzino said. "I must say I am disciplined. I don't drink, I don't smoke, and I go to church. Gardening is one of my hobbies, and also a bit of gym." He encouraged younger runners to take up sport and to stay away from drugs and substance abuse.

The health expo drew on the Church's long-standing health emphasis, which Adventists describe as the right arm of the gospel, and on the CELEBRATIONS lifestyle programme.

The Avondale Adventist Athletics Club, formed two years ago and now with a community of more than 500 runners, was among the organising partners.

"We started this initiative because we wanted to live a healthy lifestyle as Adventists, as we were seeing a growing problem in our communities, and so many bad lifestyles," said Itai Chimwala, a club representative. "So now we are busy promoting a better lifestyle people can adopt through running, and this is also our way of evangelising."

The club ran a similar event in Harare's Dzivaresekwa District in July 2026 and plans to continue partnering with communities on wellness activities.