THE ED ’ S DESK by SEAN FALCONER the ed ’ s desk
Early Mornings !
Last month I wrote that I was about to do my first couple of commentary
gigs since lockdown began , and I described how excited I was to see races slowly starting to come back . Well , I duly set my alarm for 3:30am the weekend I was on duty at the Jonkershoek Mountain Challenge ( JMC ) near Stellenbosch , and when it went off , still a bit groggy and asking myself why I do this to myself , I was once again reminded that I am very much not a morning person .
By that , I don ’ t mean that I am grumpy if woken up early … Instead I am referring to the fact that I have always been a proverbial night-owl . As in , when I was still little , my mother would tell me to switch off my light and go to sleep , and then later she would check on me and find me reading by torchlight under the covers . Today , 40- odd years later , I am still prone to staying up late , working ( or reading ) till the early hours of the morning … which makes getting out of bed early on the weekend for a race a wee bit challenging .
That said , it felt amazing to once again get myself ready – dress , make coffee to go , brush teeth , kiss my partner , scratch the dogs ’ heads , get ignored by the cat – and head off to a race in the early hours of a Saturday morning . It was wonderful to greet running friends and colleagues I had not seen in months ( other than on Facebook ), and to just talk running with running people .
Commentary with a bit of a difference ... smaller start batches , with social distancing . These are interesting times we live in !
On the other hand , our good friend Murphy ( the bastard !) had to throw a curveball at me at my first event since March : It would have to be raining heavily ! Luckily , we had tents and gazebos at the start-finish area and we could stay relatively dry , so in the end it was a lekker day out . But I will say this : Commentary through a mask sounds a bit muffled . A lot of hot air ... but hey , still good to be back !
Legal vs Illegal Races
On a related note , this edition includes a thought-provoking column by Norrie Williamson on the current state of racing in South Africa . In a nutshell , ASA is saying that some of the events currently taking place are illegal , because they are not being run under the auspices of the national federation , nor following the strict COVID regulations that ASA has adopted , in conjunction with government . As a result , ASA is actually calling on runners , clubs and members of the public to call the police to stop these illegal events ( which in the main are trail running events , but also includes some road running events and fun runs ).
However , I have spoken to several trail organisers and found out that they are now part of the newly launched South African Association of Mountain Endurance Sports ( SAAMES ), which does actually have official clearance from government to put on events . I suspect that ASA may have something to say about this , but one of the reasons these trail organisers started this association was precisely because earlier this year , ASA officially said it was going to keep the sport in lockdown till 2021 . Most trail event organisers are commercial operations , and they felt compelled to bypass ASA and go straight to government for approval to reopen the sport , or face their businesses closing .
Of course , this ties in with the ongoing question whether trail running falls under ASA ’ s control and mandate . According to World Athletics ( the former IAAF ), it does – as do parkrun and fun runs , for that matter – and I wondered whether government would say so , too , but SAAMES applied for and was given governmental approval to go ahead with its events totally separate from ASA . Therefore , the debate about where trail sits in the athletic model continues .
So , as we speed towards the end of the year , I wish you all a great read , and then great running . We ’ re all hoping that 2021 will bring better days , free of the COVID-19 pandemic and all the health and financial concerns it has brought us this year , and if we do things right now , we will hopefully be back to normal running and racing in the near future .
Sean Falconer
Images : David Papenfus & Nick Joubert
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ISSUE 135 NOVEMBER 2020 / www . modernathlete . co . za