SPORT MAN
SAYS sport man says by MANFRED SEIDLER
Time for Athletes to Cash In
After listening to the top road athletes in South Africa bemoan the lack of big prize money and earning potential in shorter road events , I am really excited by developments this year that mean our athletes have a great opportunity to cash in on serious cash incentives for posting faster times at 10km .
Anything faster than 30 minutes will pay dividends for SA ’ s elite men in the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K
Earlier this year , the organisers of the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Series , Stillwater Sports , announced an exciting time-based incentive scheme that will reward SA ’ s elite runners on a sliding-scale in the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K on Sunday 10 July . These cash incentives will be paid out on top of prize money up to position 15 for both men and women , and the scheme gives our athletes a real carrot to chase in terms of running fast times .
“ Our goal is to encourage both quality and depth of performance at the Absa RUN YOUR CITY DURBAN 10K ,” says Michael Meyer , Managing Director of Stillwater Sports and Founder of the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Series . “ Male runners will be rewarded for times ranging from sub-30 minutes to a world record time , with a fantastic incentive on offer for the first SA runner to dip under 28 minutes . Similarly , on the female side , the focus will be on both depth and quality of performance , but we really want to see SA women running under 31 minutes , and then starting to attack the 30-minutes barrier .”
The Way Things Were …
Let ’ s look back at a bit of history . For years , South African athletes have been complaining about low prize money and little in the way of incentives , outside of the traditional big four – Comrades , Two Oceans , Cape Town Marathon and
Soweto Marathon – and a handful of other races . Indeed , it has been decades since there was big money available in other road races in SA . The last of the great paying races , except for the big four , were the Matha Series races , launched in 2006 but which came to an end in 2009 .
In the late 80 ’ s , South African road running was on a high . The Nashua 10km series offered rich pickings , and the famous Triple Crown also came to the party with lucrative winnings . Other races throwing money at the top end included the Good Morning South Africa Half Marathon in Worcester in May 1988 , which paid winners a hefty R20,000 for a win . That was big money back then ! Into the 90 ’ s and new sponsors came into the game , along with the rise of the so-called ‘ pro clubs .’ Old Mutual became one of the biggest investors in road running , sponsoring the SA 10km , Half Marathon and Marathon Championships , and putting up more than decent prize money . The financial giant also launched the Old Mutual Victory Races in the mid 90 ’ s , which really got the running fraternity excited .
Meanwhile , Mr Price briefly sponsored the Mr Price 10km Series , in addition to fielding one of the strongest pro teams on the circuit and paying deep retainers to its athletes . Other clubs such as Liberty-Nike and Rentmeester were also investing heavily into the sport . Later the Mr Price Correctional Services team was also a
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