The SPAR Grand Prix Series has lifted women ’ s running in SA thanks to an influx of international talent
Sponge Group produced Mokoka , while Zoo Lake has Mashele , Chaumeton and Seoposengwe in its stable . The efforts and results are starting to show .
2 Strategic Racing : Now this is a biggie . Listen to legends like Ramaala and Hoff , and also Mokoka , and they all say the same thing : Pick your races ! South African athletes do have a penchant for over-racing , for whatever reason - that ’ s a topic for another day – but how do you pick your races when your running is your livelihood … and many races do not pay well ? The pro / elite clubs offer a partial solution , but they are not in a position to offer every athlete a salary or retainer that would allow them to only focus on specific races .
That touches on one of my next points : Opportunity . Presently , the SPAR Grand Prix women ’ s series and the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Series offer superb prize purses , and it may need just a few more races in one or both series , or another series of say four to six races ( these can be over 5km and do not need to be over 10km ), but important is that these races offer solid prize purses . Athletes would then be able to pick and choose their races , and not over-race .
Mokoka is a prime example of how this can benefit an athlete . The 37-year-old has run only in six races in 2022 , including one pacesetting effort in Sydney in September . These include his World Record 50km run in March ( that record has subsequently been broken ), two half marathons , a 10km and the successful defence of his Sanlam Cape Town Marathon title . Chaumeton has only competed in seven races this year , and the longest
( and only ) excursion on the roads was his 10km in Durban where he ran that 27:58 . He set PBs over 3000m and 5000m on the track , and that 10km PB was a whopping 32-second improvement ! So , pick your races .
3 International competition : It worked for Ramaala , Hoff , Thys , Meyer , De Reuck , et al . It worked for Mokoka , and now also Mashele , Mathanga , Chaumeton , Scott-Efurd and Kavanagh . It works . So , we need to find a means of having our athletes compete more with internationals . Both the SPAR Grand Prix and Absa RUN YOUR CITY series have done just that , and the results are showing . We just need these series to stay on the calendar and continue to sustain international competition , and the results will come for our top athletes .
4 Opportunity and Finance : I have partially addressed opportunity already , speaking of local race series like SPAR and Absa RYCS , but we also need to look at opportunities abroad . In the Hoff and Ramaala era , there was a series in the United States that attracted the best in the world . It included the Peachtree Race , the
Steamboat Classic and the Boulder Bolder races . Also , the Ekiden Relays in Japan were hugely popular , and SA enjoyed some success there . However , the opportunities need to be in the shorter distances , not the marathon and beyond , because that should come later in an athlete ’ s career . Much later !
Finance is also vitally important . Imagine if these groups had financial backing , with food , kit , shoes , physio , medicine , transport , etc , all taken care of . What a difference that could make to the careers and performances of our top athletes .
Focussing on Positives
So , while the future is looking brighter than it has in a long time , with the performances on the road promising much more to come from SA running , there are some steps that need to be added to get us to the point where South Africans are once again mentioned in the same breath as the Kenyan , Ethiopians and Ugandans ( and now also the Americans , on the women ’ s side ). I believe those steps mentioned above can make the world of difference .
Precious Mashele and Stephen Mokoka are the senior leaders in the current SA talent pool
Another youngster beginning to make waves is Nicholas Seoposengwe , here winning the Absa RUN YOUR CITY JOBURG 10K
About the Author
Manfred Seidler is a freelance sport journalist who has been in the industry since 1994 , in both print media and broadcasting , covering four Olympic Games for SABC Radio , and producing various athletics shows for the SABC . Follow him on Twitter : @ sportmansa ; Facebook : Sport Man SA ; Instagram : sportman _ sa .
Images : Anthony Grote , Reg Caldecott
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