Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 123, October 2019 | Page 32

OPINION So, does the average Modern Athlete reader even care about any of this? Probably not, and they will feel no need to care. Because the one pillar, road running, is keeping the roof from collapsing completely, there is no need to worry, for now. If you want to go run a road race without worrying about progressing to a higher level, other than to maybe qualify for Two Oceans or Comrades, this does not affect you. Or maybe it does... Most regional athletics bodies in South Africa are in reality road running associations. If they don’t host track & field, cross country and/or race walking competitions of their own, either directly or indirectly, then they simply aren’t athletics bodies. The same applies to most clubs that call themselves athletics clubs: They cater exclusively for road running - and, if we scratch deeper, they are mostly catering for recreational road runners only. Thus, internationally, the IAAF recognises trail running as part of the sport of athletics in its own right, and there are already World Championships for ultra distances. However, it would appear that in South Africa, trail running is no longer covered by the national federation... Everyone is Affected It would be incorrect to leave out another problem with how the half-hearted change to a unitary sport was managed. ASA unified the three different associations into one, but they retained separate commissions for all three. In a rather bizarre move, it was decided to give each member of each commission a vote at an ASA meeting. (This is no longer legal in terms of the Companies Act, because ASA is a non profit company, but that is also a different story.). So, a Road Running Commission member can vote for who gets elected onto the Track & Field Commission, and vice versa. Meanwhile, those who actually take part in track & field don’t get to vote for their representatives, but the Track & Field Commission is treated as a near autonomous body! This happens in most regional associations, too. Have Your Say Calling for Change So is it not time we transformed properly, and did away with the old three-pillar system? We could then recognise that the real differences in the sport are between the recreational and the competitive athletes, and not the artificial silos currently dividing the sport, as it was in the days of the SAAAU. There is no doubt that the needs of the recreational and the competitive athlete are different. Equally important is that the administrators who come from clubs that are substantially recreational will have different goals from those who come from competitive backgrounds. Therefore, it makes more sense to view the sport as either recreational or competitive, rather than through an outdated three-pillar system. If we were to do that, we could cater for the needs of the recreational athletes while developing the competitive side, so that we truly are a force to be reckoned with in world athletics. long distance tics, and is an active middle and ASA and of Western Province Athle at Modern Athlete, team Evans, is the former President of s rial Jame edito , the piece of this those of r with autho The his, and may not coincide o.za. expressed in this opinion piece are ents to [email protected] coach based in the Cape. The views nd to this piece by sending comm respo to ome welc are rs reade All debate. late stimu to here d printe are and 32 ISSUE 124 OCTOBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za for athletes to easily pass each other. Actually, the only common ground between trail running and cross country is that they are outdoors, not on road and involve running. Why this is a problem is this: Because of the confusion between the sport of athletics and the needs of recreational road running, we are faced with a situation where rules which were designed for competitive athletes, and sometimes specifically for track & field events, are being applied strictly to the backmarkers in road races, who are simply participating for enjoyment. At the same time, no-one is looking after the track & field and cross country athletes. So everyone is losing out – the recreational runners are being overly strictly policed, and the competitive athletes are being sidelined.