Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 124, November 2019 | Page 6

Have Your SAY LETTERS Got something on your mind that you want to share, a burning question you want answered, or a good story to tell? Then send it to [email protected], and add a pic if you can. Letters should preferably be no more than 300 words long, and pics must be high-resolution to be usable in print. (Note that letters may be shortened due to space limitations.) EDITOR’S PICK ROAD RUNNIN G The Prize Money Debate ROAD RUNNIN G EDITED BY Wietse van der Nicholas Mlo tshw Do the coaches of our top athletes not bear the most blame for the over-racing of their athletes? Should they not be advising and insisting that they only race certain races? Testimony to this is coach Chris Bruwer in the Cape. He has taken both Fortunate Chidzivo and Rabson Chigaro to amazing improvements in a short time by selecting only certain races for them to run. So, if we could get the corporate world to invest in more clubs, and coaches to stop their ‘elite’ athletes from over-racing, our runners would improve substantially. This would also encourage emerging runners to compete at races where there is lesser prize money on offer, without having the ‘elites’ to contend with. Also on the topic of prize money, I need to highlight the great support Western Province Athletics (WPA) gives to their Masters athletes, with prize money in these categories catering for first, second and third positions all the way to the 70+ category, and WPA recommends that the prize money at races for all Masters categories be the same. This is in place at the majority of WPA races. In doing so, they recognise and reward these more mature athletes for their continued support – many have been competing since 6 Westhuizen: prize money up I suggest no to 21km, but all the clubs prese shorter races nting must still give the province that of prize mone amount y that was suppo sed to be hande those races, so d out at there can be prize money at track cross country and races. It will get our top runners back the track. The on province must then only give from 10 to 21km prize money races if world or top standards are met. This is where we need more assistance from the corporate world, for clubs nurturing top talent, to enable these clubs to provide retainers for their elite team, with the proviso that they only race selected races, as in the case of clubs like Nedbank and Murray & Roberts. I recently stum bled across an interesting exch events. It was ange on Face sparked by a book, to do with comment post is well known ed by 42-time the payment in running circl Comrades Mar of prize money es as organise the respondents athon finisher in road running r of the weekly include former Wietse van Wiets se Run SA 1500m reco ordinator Can der Westhu s in the Northern dyce Hall. Hav rd holder Joh izen , who Suburbs of Cap an Landsman, e a read and e Town. Some see if you agre and Wes tern of e with the opin Province Cros s Country Co- ions below. – a: Then how abou who want to t those strive to do well at 10km? There young ones motiv are ated by these incentives. I have seen that for some it’s now a source of incom the economic e due to situations. Do we forget abou t them? Wietse van der Wes thuizen: Nicho think, if there las, just is prize mone y in different age categories distance and on the track and cross country, possibility to the win more there is so much bigge at the same time r, and they become better runners. think we have I don’t more than 50 men in SA that 10km under 30 can run a minutes, and not more than that can break 20 wome 35 minutes. Think n of the future of runners and how these this can help SA running. Bennie Stan der: Wietse, I agree and I have been with you. You in the sport for many years and still going stron are g because of our passion for sport actually it. The gave us a lot back, because the sport, and we served every time we ran, we did so we loved it, and because wanted to! Since I ran my first as a boy almos 800m t 52 years ago, I have had a passi for running and on coaching, and yes, I also won amount of prize a fair money in my life. That’s great gap between , but the prize money for shorter distan and marathons ce races and up has beco me ridiculous. case, only the In any elites can win those prizes. I feel that mone Therefore, y should be the last motivation, when you’re good and , you earn it, but the quest our youth even ion is, do want to start running, wheth the track or road er it’s on or trails? Peter Farao: Hi Wietse, the attendance at Western Provi nce cross count ry events this really something year was to see, but funny enough, I actua spoke to Eric lly Coetzee regar ding prize mone the Masters. y for Yes, the entry fee is small, but I we need to get think more funding into cross country track. It was nice and for me to see the under-11 race at Have Your Sa Ed’s Note: SEAN FALCONE R the cross count ry, but my quest ion is now cross country season is over, veiligheidsbeam that the what happens ptes, tydhouers now? We can to them en beamptes only cry out nie. verke betaal for Die inves tmen er vir, byvoo when we show But I encourage , die Brackenfell was meer as t and fundin rbeeld them the poten all of you comm 21km R25,000! As g tial of youth enting here and areas. elsewhere to get involved at 10km wedloop, in our jy nie ‘n borg het nie vir n a provincial admin en na alles betaa where you can l is, is jy geluk level, ‘n wins te maak actually influe kig om nce change. . Dit is werklik Maybe as part with ideas and Sitting n risiko vanda wedloop aan of your trainin complaints on g om ‘n te direct g runs, let’s Facebook is a bied sonder ‘n running comm negative way lazy and borg. our out. Put your unity to track money where and field event future, and then is, so to speak your mouth s in the Can . we have a dyce leg to stand Hall : If you’d been at funding. I know on abou a cross count the focus event in the province t is on those ry spend hours Wietse van der who love in to the past two years, you on the road, have Westhuizen: that there has but it seen would will be track and field involved with I have been been pretty decen running for more money (road nice to see the calendar adde t prize race equivalent) d to our runnin than 40 years those years, I g groups. . And (I am pretty . Of was the chairm regardless of sure, prize money), an of various Landsman Joh more than 20 most of the top clubs for years, and I serve our province an: Durin athletes in have actually g my runnin d on the old Trans in the 90s, the comm run g ittee for years caree cross country, vaal prize mone the selec in various positi so that ted team to SA r y for 10km races was 1st ons. and 15km road reaso Cham The only n I ps have was very stron prize: R500 a ; 2nd started this was province, our g. (As focus not to step on prize R300 R200. It’s a disgra has toes, but to get to ; be 3rd peop on prize: junior le’s them thinking ce that For s and seniors. rs t money, you after Maste almos how we can impro prize money running in SA. two should actua ve for those distan to the WP Maste decades, lly be speaking ces are often rs Association same, but entry still the , Peter.) fees are more than double what were in my days. Peter Farao: they Also, to get to Candyce, I’ve road races, via done five of the own transport.. taxi or cross . much more than double. Athletes need to take a stand and just start away from these staying events, becau se it doesn’t interest of the serve the top, hard-worki ng athletes who to establish a desire full-time runnin g career. Those only serve the events interest of Micky Mouse spons because they orships, get huge expos ure all over socia and the print l media media. So with the little mone invest, they get y they klomp mileage. y I find this an intere sting debate. On the one hand , I feel that races should have prize money in order to attrac t the top runne and give them rs the opportunit y to make a living from their talent , but asking these elites to race flat-out each weekend in order to win a few hundred Rand is not benefiting anybody in the long run. The athletes often end up burnt or injured, and out without havin g made enoug money to get h through the perio d of the injury Added to that, . many road races are barely surviving financ ially, but are comp elled out prize mone to pay y they cannot really afford. Therefore, it may make more sense to have different tiers or classes of races, where races are not smaller expected to pay out prize mone or can pay less, y, due to their focus being on social and entry -level runners. Then the elites would choose their races more carefully and after bigger prize go money at the upper tier races and thus not , over-race, while smaller races could survive better financially. However, I know there will be those who object to this solution, so I am keen to hear what readers think. Please send your thoughts to letters@modern athlete.co.za and we’ll look to publish them in an upcoming edition. Peter, why the need to show them the poten youth in our areas tial of ? Follow the brillia nt results from Fit to Run week in and week out. Speak to Norm Ontong to realis an e the great talent in our communitie Our youth don’t s. need to prove anything to anyon Their achieveme e. nts are out there for all to take of. Problem is, note the sponsors don’t take note of it. Peter Farao: Johan, the quest ion remains, how do we get race fees down, so that we can flood short races with our juniors, or how do we get back excitement of the track and field? Where is the athletics in our focus in community? Mayb e we need to with our schoo start ls, and find out how athletics is really handled. Also, those of us who are helping athlet with running, es especially at junior level, need them to the track to get , and let’s creat e an atmospher which they can e in perform. 26 ISSUE 124 OCTO BER 2019 Wietse van der maar 15 jaar / www.mod ernathlete .co.za Westhuizen: gelede het jy Johan, nie vir die verke er, 25 their junior years – and who despite the disadvantages age brings, persevere, train hard and are so passionate about the sport that they are great role models to their younger counterparts. Thank you for this, WPA, and for the WPA cash incentives offered at selected races through the year catering for all categories from Juniors to 70+ athletes, and especially for continuing to select and send Masters to all the ASA Championship events. Sadly the support from ASA in the form of prize money for the Masters categories has dwindled drastically in the past couple of years. In the past they always supported the Masters athletes at the ASA Championships by allocating prize money to them, and even used to allocate team prize money in the Masters categories as well! None was allocated to the ASA 21.1km or the 42.2km Championships this year. Disappointing, especially at the 42.2km Championships at the Cape Town Marathon, where the race prize money ISSUE 124 NOVEMBER 2019 / www.modernathlete.co.za for the 60-69 and 70+ categories was greatly reduced from previous years! And except for the South African Masters Athletics (SAMA) medals, the 70+ category athletes are not even afforded SA Championship recognition or medals. – Nancy Will, Cape Town Thanks for your letter, Nancy. Having been a regular on the podium at races in the Cape for many years, I know that you are directly affected by any decisions regarding prize money, so it is refreshing to hear that you have an open mind about reducing prize money at smaller races in order to incentivise top athletes to focus on selected races instead of racing everything. That said, I know that prize money for age groupers is often a most welcome extra source of income, especially for pensioners trying to make ends meet! I think both arguments have merit, but I support the idea to reduce the temptation for elites to race too often, and it will take a collective input from administrators, coaches, club, sponsors, athletes and even the media to change that. – Ed. Thank you for a great magazine! I would like to respond to the article you published in the October edition (The Prize Money Debate, page 25 – Ed.), where it was suggested that prize money should not be paid in races up to 21km long. I definitely support having prize money at races, as it brings an added incentive for our top athletes to go all out and do their best, showing what they can do, especially at the bigger races where the prize money is good. And yet on the other hand, I agree that our top athletes are over-racing and under-performing, as the prize money is their ‘bread and butter.’ country event s this year, hence the reason for encourage our me to running comm unity to get involv After a very, very ed. long lay-off from being active in running, I decid ed to help a few athletes, and started again it got me . Being part of the admin is part solution, but of the what we need is clubs in the to get programm community es that attrac t youth. Mayb big races, let’s e at our a have short race just for junior incentives for s, with clubs. So for now we highli issues, but this ght certain may fall on ‘good ears’ and we the fruits of it. will see And rest assur ed, I will drive conversation this in my with people highe r up. KEEP THE PRIZE MONEY AT ROAD RACES…