Although Uganda has never bred champions to any significant degree in short sprints at the international level, one William Santino Dralu achieved a reasonable level of prominence in the field in the late 1960s and 1970s. Dralu has endured, for fifty years, in Ugandan history as an outstanding Ugandan sprinter, more specifically in the 100 and 200 meter dash, and in the sprint relay. Even after decades, Dralu remains an inspiration to Ugandan sprinters. The level of international participation of Ugandan track and field athletes remains disproportionately significant in the middle and long distance arena; leaving a dearth of athletic representation in sprints and field trials.

In 1969, at the East and Central African Championships (an annual athletics battle initially between Uganda, Kenya and Tanzania), William Santino Dralu achieved his greatest international achievements by winning the 100m dash in 10.5 seconds. This meeting took place in Dralu’s home country, in the capital of Kampala in Uganda. Significantly, in the same year, Dralu set a national 100m dash record of 10.1s, a Ugandan record that has stood for four decades. The record was set in the Ugandan capital Kampala on August 8, 1969. This was an excellent record, given that the world record at the time was 9.9 seconds. Prestigious, with this timing of 10.1, in international Athletics statistics, William Dralu would rank third in the world in 1969 (along with Charles Greene and John Carlos from the USA, Pablo Montes from Cuba, Edwin Roberts from Trinidad, Melvin Pender from the US, and Detlef Lewandowski and Hermann Burde from the German Democratic Republic). Hermes Ramírez of Cuba and Valeriy Borzov of the Soviet Union, both with a personal best time of 10.0 in the 100m dash, took first and second place respectively.

It is in Pietersburg, South Africa, on March 11, 1998, that Ugandan Moses Mila equaled the Ugandan record of 10.1 seconds hand-timed. However, on the iaaf.org website, Moses Mila’s personal best is listed as 10.48 s and was achieved in Johannesburg, South Africa on March 27, 1998. At the same track and field meet, Moses Mila, according to iaaf .org, ran his personal brand. best in the 200 m dash, a time of 20.63 s, on the same day.

The muscular William Dralu stood at a relatively tall 6′ 0″. He was born on June 27, 1947 in Uganda, a country in East Africa. Dralu’s achievements at the Olympic Games, previously held in 1968 in Mexico City , were far less flattering than his in 1969. At the 1968 Olympics, the 21-year-old Dralu was enlisted to compete in the 100m and 200m dashes, his personal best of 21.1s to be achieved the following year In the 100m dash, Dralu was similarly eliminated very early, coming in 7th in Heat 1 Round 1, timed at 10.8 seconds. de Dralu is 59th (out of 66 competitors) in the 100m dash and 36th (out of 49 competitors) in the 200m dash.

The next Olympic Games would be held in the summer of 1972 in Munich, Germany. Santino Dralu’s achievements would once again go unnoticed at the Olympics. In the 100m race, the 25-year-old Dralu was seventh in just the first round (heat 6), with a time of 10.92s. Even in the 200 m, Dralu was eliminated from advancing further, after finishing 6th in heat 6 of the first round, Dralu clocked 21.87 s. Significantly, Dralu’s performance at the 1972 Olympics was, on the whole, no better than his performance at the previous Olympics. At the 1972 Olympics, Dralu’s final performance ranking is 67th (out of 90 competitors) in the 100m dash and 48th (out of 66 competitors) in the 200m dash.

The next major international athletics meeting took place in Christchurch, New Zealand, from January 24 to February 2, 1974. These were the British Commonwealth Games held every four years. William Dralu was part of the Ugandan 4x400m relay team that won bronze (3.07.45), behind the winning team from Kenya (in 3.04:43); and the British team (3.06.66) who won silver. The other runners on the Ugandan relay team were Pius Olowo, Samuel Kakonge and Silver Ayoo. This is the only occasion, so far, that Uganda has achieved medal status at either the Olympics or the British Commonwealth Games.

The 1976 East and Central African Athletics Championships were held in May 1976 in Tanzania. This was quite an exciting duel between the participating countries, the events included many world-class athletes. Uganda managed to win, overall, beating favorite Kenya. In the 200m final, legendary Kenyan sprinter Charles Asati managed to pull Dralu away. Asati would win in 21.2 seconds, Dralu would be second in 21.5 seconds and Kenya’s John Mwebi third in 21.6 seconds. At 29, this would be one of Dralu’s prestigious performances.

By participating, and even being highly ranked, globally; and emerging among the top sprinters in various national and regional events during the 1960s and 1970s, William Santino Dralu has maintained legendary national status as one of Uganda’s leading sprinters.