RACE CALENDAR
Make Your Racing Plans
South African athletes are blessed with an incredible number of running events , including not only road and trail running , but also many other running-related disciplines , so check out SA ’ s most complete running calendar and then get your entries in , all right here ! – COMPILED BY NICOLE HAYES
From the Ed ’ s Desk … From the Ed ’ s Desk … by SEAN FALCONER
Thoughts on Normality
When the COVID pandemic arrived and we all went into lockdown , people soon began referring to working from home and never going anywhere as ‘ the new normal .’ Then when lockdown restrictions began to be relaxed , level by level , all the talk was about ‘ getting back to normal .’ And when the last restrictions were lifted earlier this year , most of us believed things had actually returned to normal . But it ’ s not that simple for our sport .
I am still seeing events being cancelled , sometimes at quite short notice , either due to not attracting enough entries to make them economically viable , or because the sponsorship funding needed to put those events on has been reduced , withdrawn , or not secured . Meanwhile , many of the events that are taking place are reporting significantly lower numbers than when they were last run in 2019 or 2020 . In other words , things are definitely not back to normal yet .
There have been some exceptions , i . e . events that have actually done much better than expected . Take for example the new Blouberg Marathon , Half Marathon & 10km in Cape Town in July , where the organisers told me they initially planned for 1500 entries , but ended up with around 3500 . That caused them a few headaches , including the City of Cape Town ordering them at the last minute to move the 10km start and finish to another venue , but that aside , I don ’ t think the West Coast Athletic Club was complaining about getting 130 % more entries than expected !
Factoring in the Factors
There is a long list of reasons that could explain why entries are lower in most events this year , as I have written before in this column . We ’ ve just emerged from two years of COVID , and some people are still suffering with their health , or are afraid to take part in crowded events for fear of infection . Some are ( apparently ) suffering side-effects from the vaccine , notably elevated heart rates when they exercise .
Furthermore , many are feeling the economic pinch after the extended lockdown , and simply cannot afford to run as many races as they did in the past , and this is compounded by the fact that the cost of petrol has rocketed up , pushing the price of everything else up as well . Meanwhile , entry fees have significantly increased this year , with many events not being able to secure
We ’ ll Be Back to Normal Next Month
As I wrote in my Editor ’ s Letter near the front of this mag , this edition is appearing later than planned due to a few challenges our team experienced in recent weeks , so this Race Calendar is not the full two months of upcoming fixtures , as it was originally intended to be . We have therefore cut it down to just the October fixtures , and in the next edition we will get back to our two-monthly look ahead . Please accept my apology for this , and rest assured we will resume normal service soon .
enough sponsorship funding to cover the costs of their events , while also needing to pay more to their suppliers and service providers .
And then there is also the fact that the calendar is once again jam-packed , with runners offered so many choices for their bucks . This is complicated by the fact that there has been a lot of movement on the calendar this year , not just because of the Comrades Marathon moving from June to August , but because a lot of events moved to a later date in the year in order to offset the lingering effects of the pandemic , meaning several long-time favourites now clash and forcing runners to choose between them .
I still feel that things will normalise with time , and I hope that next year the event calendar will stabilise , with less events getting cancelled , but a lot will depend on the economic situation in the country , the mindset of the running community , and the willingness of sponsors , organisers , suppliers and athletes to work together to make it all work . In the meantime , those of us who do want to race have plenty of options !
The Modern Athlete Race Calendar is compiled by pulling info from various websites and resources , including provincial calendars , online entry portals and event companies ’ sites . Thank you to all the organisers , administrators and volunteers that make this sport tick .
84 ISSUE 153 | www . modernathlete . co . za