Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 121, August 2019 | Page 4

EDITOR’S LETTER Paying Tribute PUBLISHERS Richard Laskey Roxanne Martin Sean Falconer ADVERTISING SALES Richard Laskey 083 342 8200 / [email protected] DIGITAL SALES & CAMPAIGNS Roxanne Martin 072 368 7390 / [email protected] EDITORIAL TEAM EDITOR Sean Falconer [email protected] DESIGNER Caroline Collings [email protected] DIGITAL CONTENT MANAGER Roxanne Martin [email protected] That said, I have always been proud of the fact that this mag doesn’t just put the elite-level, pro runners or triathletes on our front cover. We’ve also had plenty of ‘Average Joe’ athletes on the cover through the years, including 90-year-old living legends, survivors of illness or accidents, or people tackling incredible endurance running feats. In other words, you don’t have to be fast to be on the cover, but you must be inspirational! One thing I can’t recall us ever doing, however, is putting somebody on the cover that doesn’t actually participate in events, but rather works on or at them. But it is these people, the race organisers and technical officials, who are vital to the events, and to the sport. Without them, there would be no events, yet they seldom get the recognition they deserve, neither praise nor thanks. Instead, all too often the only ‘feedback’ they do receive from the running community is in the form of criticism and angry complaints. Yet they come back week after week, even year after year, willing to continue giving of themselves to the sport that they invariably love just as much those participating. And thus they deserve their ‘moment in the sun’ just as much as the Comrades winners and the Olympians of this world. That is why we have put well known and hugely popular Central Gauteng provincial official and race referee Colleen McNally on the cover this month, fittingly in the August edition as we pay tribute to various inspirational women during Women’s Month. Sometimes in life you meet people that just make you smile. Colleen is one of them, and I am sure I am not the only runner, or person working in the running domain, who feels that way. Everywhere she goes, she spreads humour, charm and fun, and even when she is ‘reprimanding’ an athlete for contravening one of the rules of the sport, she still manages to make that chastened athlete appreciate her. (Must be all her practice reprimanding naughty school kids in her ‘day job’ as a teacher!) It is the ‘Colleens of this world’ that make our sport run smoothly, and I think it fitting that we pay tribute to them with a front cover now and again! As for the rest of the mag, we have the usual mix of inspirational stories across all the running and walking disciplines, so tuck into the read and charge up your running batteries. Sean Falconer 4 Follow on Twitter: @sean_falconer | Follow the mag as well: @modern_athlete ISSUE 121 me AUGUST 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za COVER IMAGE Jetline Action Photo IMAGES Photo Agencies & Professional photographers: ABPhotoZA, Alfred Thorpe/Vuurtorin Media, Anthony Grote, Bigstock, Chris Hitchcock, Clarisse Henriques/ITU Media, Ewald Sadie, Janos m. Schmidt/ITU Media, Jetline Action Photo, Kody McGregor, Kyle Cestari, Mark Sampson, Rogan Ward, Roger Sedres/ImageSA, Shawn Benjamin/Ark Images, Terence Vrugman, Tobias Ginsberg, Val Adamson Non-professional photographers: Bridget Linderoth, Blake Wilkins, Sean Falconer Courtesy: Anel Oosthuizen, Carla Farina, Cape Town Marathon, Comrades Marathon Association, Izimangaliso Malatjie, Linda Doke, Murray & Roberts Running Club, Pinelands Athletics Club, PJ Moses, Philippa Dods, Randall Crisp, René Kalmer, Roelof Mostert, SABC, Sean Falconer, Su-yen Thornhill, Stuart Mann, Victoria Falls Marathon, Xoliswa Lebethe, and various Race Organisers FIND US GENERAL E-MAIL [email protected] EDITORIAL E-MAIL [email protected] WEB www.modernathlete.co.za FACEBOOK www.facebook.com/ modernathletemag TWITTER @modern_athlete INSTAGRAM @modernathletemag Modern Athlete is accredited by the ABC with an average monthly circulation of 79,344 (Apr - Jun 2018) L ast month we celebrated our 120 th edition and our 10 th anniversary, and the front cover ‘model’ was newly crowned Comrades Champ Edward Mothibi. I would hazard a guess that most readers would have expected either Edward or women’s winner Gerda Steyn to be on the cover, given their dominant performances at the Comrades. Both deserved to be on the cover, and it was really hard to choose between them – we even played with the idea of putting both on, but it looked a bit cluttered, so we gave Edward the nod, since Gerda had appeared on the cover just two editions before that, following her win in the Two Oceans Marathon. EDITORIAL CONTRIBUTORS Regulars: Anel Oosthuizen, Christine Peters, Derick Marcisz, Ernest Hobbes, Manfred Seidler, Norrie Williamson, PJ Moses, Ray Orchison, René Kalmer, Roxanne Martin, Sean Falconer, Stuart Mann, Tom Cottrell Guest Writers: Ayanda Tshiluvane, Carla Farina, Esmé Maré, Izimangaliso Malatjie, Keith Buhr, Philippa Dods, Randall Crisp, Su-yen Thornhill, Xoliswa Lebethe