Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 150 May 2022 | Page 10

COMMENTS
‘ explanation ’ is the cost of JMPD . If CGA and other bodies that oversee running ( be it trail or road ) do proper audits , clubs will find it difficult to explain the cost of events . Not for a moment am I implying that ALL clubs are rolling in cash . Pay attention to the behaviour of certain clubs . Everything is done for money . Unfortunately , this is an ego-driven environment . My race has to be bigger and better than the club next to ours .
Mark Wolff : Hi Manfred , it ’ s well written , but the one part I disagree with is the COVID protocols being enforced . There isn ’ t any event that has had a ‘ no vaccine , no run ’ policy , they allow for anyone to run under protocol guidelines . Two Oceans is doing it , Cape Town Marathon and all other events . This to me is unacceptable and needs to be relooked at . As for the fees , sure they are higher and events cost money , and in international terms it ’ s not high at all . However , a large amount of Comrades runners come from very challenging backgrounds and for many of the regulars it ’ s going to be difficult to afford .
Joseph Segula : Races have been extremely expensive all these years , and now petrol travelling costs are up , too . That means for those who live closer to the race , it is cheap for walk to the race !
James Evans : Event organisers want more people , so they have longer cut-off times , but event costs are higher when you want a five-hour cut off for a half marathon , because you have to pay more ( longer hours at an hourly rate ) for medical , security , traffic officers , etc . And when their costs go up , they pass that off as higher entry fees , and everyone comes to their defence because costs are high , without looking at why the costs are high . ( I have organised enough events to know how it works .)
If costs are prohibitive and events are really in danger of being cancelled , then why are there so many events on the calendar ? In Cape Town , for example , there is a bunfight every year with people wanting their race put on the calendar , but then when they get their date , they tell us they have to charge more , otherwise it is not worth their while putting the event on ...
Saying entry fees are not too expensive when a large portion of the SA population struggles to eat shows a lack of sensitivity to reality . Sure , if a few events were expensive because of what they offered , then fine , but now all events are out of the question for the vast majority of South Africans .
South African events are still much cheaper than international races like the London Marathon , but are now proving too expensive for many local runners
SA ’ s big races have attracted many international entries , for whom the favourable exchange rate makes entry fees and accommodation much more affordable

FOR THE MOTION

Seromo Mofokeng : People must read the article . I remember when my club hosted their first race with no sponsors . I don ’ t think any race will be possible without sponsorship .
Morné Britz : Before passing any comments take some time to read this excellent article that clearly provides detailed reasons for the increasing cost of races . As the writer stated , running races will become a personal preference considering various factors , for example , finances , personal choice and affinity to take part in events . Unfortunately , it is a fact of life , costs will continue to rise as time passes . Thank you for this insightful article .
Vernon Rembold : Anyone want to pay my R8699 entry for Ironman , and I ’ ll pay your comrades entry ? Quit complaining , by far the majority of races and clubs are non-profit organisations and do not host races for profit . Otherwise , you have the choice of looking for races with low entry fees hosted by clubs that have their own venue and are fully sponsored and have volunteers as marshals .
John Sneddon : I would agree . I think we were getting a cheap deal for many years . Not the popular thing to say , but the ultra trails are much more expensive , and so is triathlon .
Caspar Greeff : The ordinary road races are generally reasonably priced . The big , popular road
races like the Comrades and the Two Oceans are too expensive .
Mandla Mngomezulu : Balanced opinion , Manfred . The question is , who wants to organise an event that is a loss ? If you are not going to break even , why bother organising an event in the first place ? If we want to keep entry fees lower at all costs , we are not going to have races in the near future , period ! No one will waste time organising an event that won ’ t at least break even .
Mindlo Mdhluli : Everything has become expensive . Simple economics is that races fees have been lower due to sponsorship component of race funding being higher , but COVID distress has dropped sponsorship contributions , and capping of race numbers has also resulted in funding requirements being spread over fewer participants .
Anthony Bold : I entered Wally Hayward . I bet it will hurt my body more than my wallet , but I just can ’ t wait to see mates and be out there again with a reason to train .
Mark Ewing : Growing up , my mom was the secretary of our running club , Randburg Harriers , one of the largest clubs in Johannesburg in those days , with over 600 members . For many years she used to organise the events for the club , which had two races on the calendar , a 10km night race and a 21km race . These were organised internally within the club , and
volunteers from the club would help out , from setting up the fields the day before ( finish area , etc .), and assisting Coca-Cola to deliver at the water points , to making sure marshals were in place , and driving the race director around .
The base costs were very low , but as society moved on , so the members became less involved in their clubs , just paid their fees to get a license and ran other races that they wanted to , and were not interested to help out at races or club runs . Therefore , some clubs started using outside organisers to manage their races , and they needed to be paid , so you needed a bigger crowd to pay for this . Now the smaller races had to keep up with the show , so they too brought in organisers to assist , as a part-time , half-day club secretary just didn ’ t have the time or means to manage such events , hence the push and increase in costs , coupled with the points Manfred has mentioned .
As a family we used to insert 2000 labels into bank bags so you could get your results , and these were ‘ free .’ Now you have to have timing chips . Entries were done on the morning of the race , with volunteers sitting from 5am . Now it ’ s all online . Again , more costs ... A simple race basically just needed a lot of manpower , and that was 99 % free , but now , if you want a professional race with all the bells , well , you need to pay for that . So , a big thanks to the all the volunteers , from years ago and today !
Images : Action Photo SA & courtesy Comrades Marathon , Two Oceans Marathon & WorldMarathons . com
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