The Race
A Long Road Travelled
The 2020 Dis-Chem Half Marathon will be sponsored for the 19th consecutive year by Dis-Chem Pharmacies, but this
iconic, premier half marathon race in Gauteng has been on the running calendar since 1979.
I
t all started in the first half of 1978, when a group
of hockey and soccer players from the Bedfordview
Country Club (BCC) were enjoying post-training
drinks in the clubhouse, and conversation turned to
predicting the winner of the upcoming Comrades
Marathon. Fired up by all this talk of running,
somebody suggested forming a new BCC running
section, and soon an application was sent to the then
Transvaal Road Running Association.
With permission granted in September 1978 to
establish the new running club, the BCC runners were
also given two race dates, one for a half marathon in
January, and a second for a 10km in August. With little
experience of presenting a road race, the new club
committee turned to neighbouring Germiston Callies
for advice on all things running, and then set about
raising funds for its new race, with a most successful
disco evening held at the sports grounds.
However, a few heart palpitations resulted when it was
realised how many marshals and volunteers would
be needed on a 21km course, so the club decided
to make the race a two-lapper, to allow all the race
volunteers to double up on duties. Even so, family
members, friends and work colleagues were all roped
in to help on race day, as were the whole men’s and
women’s BCC hockey teams!
Gauteng, to introduce ‘limited entries,’ mostly for
logistics and planning. We limited the entries to 4000,
and we were fully subscribed before race day – and
have been every year since. On race day we even had
to turn away 1996 Olympic Marathon gold medallist,
Josia Thugwane. That year we also introduced the
now famous ‘Goodie Bag,’ which was a collection of
various sponsored products and a T-shirt in a Reebok
bag. The most memorable aspect of this was the
‘packing parties’ we used to have at chairman Barry
Dingle’s house.”
Other innovations in 1997 included a new 5Km
fun run, to draw broader family participation in the
event, and equal prize money for men and women
was introduced. “That was hugely controversial at
the time, as the women’s fields were much smaller,
but something we as an organising committee felt
strongly about,” says Wayne. Another groundbreaking
first was providing sheltered accommodation for
disadvantaged out-of-town athletes.
A New Sponsor Steps In
In 2000, Reebok urged the club to increase entries, as
the event was consistently selling out, so the cap was
raised to 5000, with a further 1000 in the 5km. The
cut-off was also extended from 2 hours 30 to 3 hours,
to accommodate walkers. Unfortunately, Reebok
then announced in 2001 that its parent company was
withdrawing from South Africa, handing the brand
over to a local entity, and that meant the end of the
sponsorship.
The club initially struggled to find a new sponsor, in
spite of the prestige and credentials of the race, and
with six months to go until the 2002 race, was still
without a sponsor, recounts Wayne. “But life and
running is all about a network, and whilst at supper
with my brother-in-law, also an ex-runner, I met
one of his old school friends, Derick McEwan, who
had recently taken on a role in marketing and event
management for a fast developing pharmaceutical
group called Dis-Chem. He spoke about his
successes in getting the brand involved with cycling
and swimming, and was now keen to get a top
running event. Having experienced our event as a
runner himself, he agreed to put the event forward to
the Dis-Chem team, so we polished up our proposal
and passed it on to Derick.”
“A week later, our chairman got a call from one of
the Dis-Chem founding directors, Stan Goetsch,
requesting a meeting with the team. The irony of this
is that Stan was an active member of Jeppe at the
time, but obviously really believed in the great inroad
into running that our event could offer their brand, and
we signed the partnership that night.” That 2002 race
was a huge success, and set the foundation for what
has become a long, mutually beneficial relationship
between Dis-Chem and BCC.
Sponsorship and Growth
For the first three years the Club covered the cost
of putting on the race with various fundraising
initiatives, along with entry fees, until 1982, when a
new title sponsor, Bliss Dairies, came on board, and
the race was renamed the Bliss Half Marathon. This
sponsorship came to an end after the 1992 race,
when Bliss Dairies was bought out by the Barlows
Group, but thankfully, a replacement was found for the
2003 event in sporting brand Reebok.
It was in these years that the race accomplished
a number of major firsts, says former race director
Wayne Saunders (1997-2002). “In 1997 we were
one of the first races in the country, and the first in
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