In the panel discussion , I spoke to guesthouse , travel and tour operators , bus transport company execs , as well as members of official bodies working at governmental level to try look after the interests of such operators . The general consensus was that if things don ’ t change soon , and if these industries aren ’ t allowed to reopen and get back to business , then many companies or businesses will have no choice but to shut down permanently – as quite a number already have . As one tour operator said , he ’ ll have to go make coffee somewhere …

This same scenario applies to the running world that all of us reading this mag live in . While running clubs can generally survive without putting on events , the event

companies that put on quite a few road events , and most trail events , have already been struggling for a year with little or no income , and another year of no events ( or only tiny events that struggle to make a profit ) will likely spell the end for them . As a result , people with years of experience and expertise in putting on running events will need to look elsewhere for an income . Hopefully some will be able to return once the pandemic is over , but chances are they won ’ t be able to . Or won ’ t want to take the chance of being caught in an industry that can be shut down completely by circumstances beyond their control .

The Fear Factor

The other thing that came out of the discussion was that nobody really knows what ’ s coming next . While some people are desperately trying to reopen their industries or businesses , including petitioning the government to relax lockdown restrictions and trying to convince paying customers that it is safe to come back , others are preparing to ‘ batten down the hatches ’ for the predicted third wave .

Just when this third wave is expected to arrive is also a hot topic of debate . Some believe it will be at Easter , due to family and religious gatherings becoming superspreaders , while others predict it will coincide with the

start of winter , when many people traditionally get the sniffles due to the ‘ change of weather .’ Still others say it will be later this year … and there could also be a fourth wave after that , as the virus mutates !

The point is , nobody can be sure , and in the meantime , there seems to be little good news coming from the South African government in terms of a wider , more efficient rollout of vaccines . While other countries are rapidly increasing their vaccine rollout programmes , some believe that we may only see vaccines widely available in SA next year . That ’ s another bad sign for the eventing industry .

My feeling is that we need to adhere to safety protocols , but still try to get events up and running again , and we need to do the latter as carefully and safely as we can , with all runners co-operating and sticking to the rules , in order to show that it can be done . Even better , we need to show that numbers can be increased , which will make events economically viable again . And most importantly , we need to try remain positive , in the hope that better days lie ahead .

Image : Ewald Sadie