activities these days, so it’ s got to be fun, colourful, exciting, and it’ s got to be over quickly – by 12 o’ clock they’ re home again.
MA: The world class elites really add to these events! MM: Last year we had the world’ s fastest time ever for 12km in Cape Town, and in Durban we had the fastest 10km ever by a man and woman in SA. It’ s because we have an actual elite athlete programme. With respect, I think a lot of other big SA road events think they have an elite athlete programme, but just because you have elite athletes running in your event doesn’ t mean that you have an elite programme. An elite programme is where you invite athletes and pay them to be there, incentivise them to perform, and they are part of your media build-up and come to your press conference the day before. There is a difference.
MA: Do you think our cities could handle 100,000 people doing a running event, like Bay to Breakers?
MM: We’ d love to expand the races, but there are understandable limitations from the cities, and the other question is can we commercially handle more people across the series? Somebody has to pay for the medals, T-shirts and everything else, and it becomes really expensive, so we’ ll see how it develops.
MA: We’ re currently seeing a massive growth in running in SA, which a lot of people attribute to the popularity of parkrun, so how do you see your races fitting into this picture?
MM: People don’ t like to stagnate, and I think there are three directions they can go after starting with parkrun... a certain percentage will be happy to continue with parkrun, while some may drop out, but I think there are a lot of people who are inspired to go to the next level, and any of the FNB runs, or our 10km Totalsports Women’ s Races, are certainly that next level.
MA: Speaking of which, is that also the thinking behind the Totalsports Women’ s Races?
MM: Well, it’ s quite interesting, as people sometimes confuse the Spar Ladies’ Challenge races with the Totalsports Women’ s Races, but there is quite a difference between the two. The Spar races are real mass participation events, and it’ s a fantastic series, but what we try to do is create a healthy lifestyle experience for a specific target market, and it’ s got a lot to do with Totalsports’ goals, because women are a large part of their performance clientele, so the race elements are focused on their running experience.
MA: Another notable part of your FNB races are the pre-race city cleanups. Is the idea just to make the route pretty on race day, or is there long-term thinking behind that?
MM: It’ s definitely not just focussed on race day. We have 30 events in our stable and deal with a lot of charities, but we don’ t want to just hand over a cheque, so with the Run Your City Series events there are two focal points where we want to make a difference. One is animal welfare, and the other is revitalisation of the inner city, especially in Joburg and Durban. It’ s about getting people to understand the challenges of running inner cities, so when we do the cleanups we try to align with and support organisations that are revitalising the inner cities, like the Heritage Foundation in Johannesburg. Our team is passionate about this, so they are out there cleaning the streets themselves, doing their part to drive the programme and keep the cities clean.
MA: Lastly, without giving any secrets away, are there still more ideas coming from Stillwater Sports?
MM: Absolutely! Certain events take on an identity that stays the same year after year – the best example is Comrades, where the course may only change slightly – and that’ s what people go back to, but the new trend with younger participants is that they are looking for a new, changing experience. So you always need to weigh up where to create tradition, and where to create freshness, and it’ s an ongoing task to find the balance.
WALK THIS WAY
By Anel Oosthuizen
WINTER WALKING
They say summer bodies are earned in the winter, and if you wait for the perfect conditions, you’ ll never get anything done, but when that alarm shouts in my ears at 4:45am and it’ s four degrees Celsius outside, all I sometimes feel like doing is throwing my phone against a wall! It’ s the most difficult season to get training done, especially in the early hours of the morning – and I know I’ m not the only one who feels this way during the winter!
EXPERT ANALYSIS
I recently spoke to fellow race walkers Lebogang Shange, Wayne Snyman and Natalie Le Roux, who all have won SA titles and set SA records, and asked them what their winter training programmes look like. Lebogang says he likes to stick to his normal walking, because – as he put it – he never really experiences winter. That’ s because he is always travelling the world, chasing the sun! Talking specifics, he adds that he hates doing long sessions, and absolutely loves his 500m and 1km speed intervals.
In contrast, Wayne stays in SA most of the time, and loves to throw in a bit of a variety in his training – as they say, variety is the spice of life. He incorporates some swimming in his programme, and says that it helps with his lung capacity and staying in shape. He also does a little bit of trail running during the winter months to change things up! Meanwhile, Natalie likes to do a bit of cycling, as well as joining her Comrades friends for a longer race walking session. She also loves to involve some easy running into her programme, as it keeps her fit and helps with recovery after longer walking sessions.
Images: Courtesy Anel Oosthuizen
IT WORKS FOR ME
The cold is definitely not my friend, but I always try to make winter training fun by including something different to the normal everyday training sessions, such as jogging every now and then as well as incorporating some gym sessions. I have also noticed that one’ s appetite changes drastically when it gets colder, so concentrating on your diet( and not grabbing everything hot in sight) will also help you stay in shape. That’ s my recipe to avoid losing it completely through the winter!
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Race Walker Anel Oosthuizen is a multiple SA Champion and Record Holder, who represented SA at the 2016 Rio Olympics.
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