The World Road Championships in Riga at the end of September has already opened entries for mass participation in all three distances of the Mile , 5km and 21.1km . The drive is to encourage average runners to run all three over the weekend . Then 2024 sees , the much-awaited ‘ biggie ’ of the Paris Olympics , where 40,000 recreational runners will have the opportunity to run either 10km or the whole Olympic Marathon course on the afternoon before the closing ceremony .
Comrades Green Numbers are starting to thin out as running goals change
This mixing of mass participation with elite championships delivers for everyone . Who wouldn ’ t want to run an Olympic marathon or World Championship course at the same time as the best in the world ? Also , the mass participation events add spectators for these events , and more spectators open sponsorship and media opportunities , which in turn opens financial and media gains , and so the sport becomes more profitable and sustainable .
Resistance to Change
The worlds of road , off-road , ultra , mountain and trail running are rapidly changing , as are the desires of their clients , the runners . The current world trend is for 18-30 year olds – the so-called Zen population – to prefer last-minute entry to shorter distance events that require minimal training , and that allow participation with friends and post-race socialising . Here in SA , this means the participation in large Absa RYC , Totalsports , SPAR and other sub-marathon events will continue to grow , while marathon and ultras seem set to fail to meet previous levels , or current financial targets .
As part of this , the numbers of Blue ( Two Oceans ) and Green ( Comrades ) permanent numbers may be peaking , but that reflects investment over the past three decades , rather than the drop in desire and recruitment of recent years . Ironically , the organisers of these two events , as well as other races that offer permanent numbers , are contributing to this fall in numbers by reducing the incentive and race offering , which further removes the incentive and reward for the 10 , 20 and 30 ‘ clubs .’ The Greens and Blues are truly a dying breed , as there are just too many new opportunities in other events to be explored around the world .
Unfortunately , South Africa appears slow to react to the challenges and opportunities , retaining a fixture list that has little variation from that of the isolation years of three decades ago . Well-known blogger and fellow Modern Athlete columnist , The Running Mann , has produced interesting stats confirming the fixation in this country of hosting marathons from February to May , the hottest and most adverse months in SA , as qualifiers for the big ultras . By comparison the cooler months ( May to October ), where later starts could attract more recreational runners and better times could be achieved by all , offer far less marathons .
This year , the Comrades is returning to a June date , after a brief move to August in 2022 , and this also sees a return to the basic 2019 ( pre-COVID ) fixture format of only 13 % of SA ’ s 120 marathons and ultras being held in runner-friendly good conditions . Even with the 2022 August Comrades date , only 27 % were held in good running conditions . With 19 races , KZN tops the list of political provinces in terms of marathons and ultras . The Western Cape and Gauteng are second on the list , with 15 events each , but both of these political provinces are split into three athletic provinces This means that KZN has roughly three times as many marathons or ultras as any other province , and in 2023 , they are all in the hot months !
The Bottom Line …
The Running Mann concludes , and I fully concur ,
Many of SA ’ s marathons take place during the hottest months of the year that the need for Oceans and Comrades to have year-round qualification is not just obvious , but essential for the sport to progress . His analysis also shows that runners who qualified in the previous year ( September-October ) performed better and had higher finishing rates than those qualifying in February to May . In other words , the old model is no longer working .
I believe that South Africa needs to get its act together if it is to capitalise on its best weather conditions , which would also allow the country to bridge the May to mid-September gap in the global marathon calendar . In stark contrast , the Middle East has quickly made massive inroads to participation events and is becoming an established region for half and full marathons from November to February . That dovetails nicely between the traditional Autumn and Spring road running seasons in the Northern Hemisphere , thus presenting elite athletes with a wider range of racing options .
The bottom lines is that whether recreational or elite , the recommencement of 2023 racing ( after a still somewhat disrupted post-COVID 2022 ), along with the new World Athletics ranking and qualification regulations , brings exciting innovations and opportunities , but also a time for the sport and race organisers to determine and work towards a sustainable long-term vision .
About the Author
Norrie represented Scotland and Great Britain in numerous ultra-distance events , then represented South Africa in triathlon . He is a World Athleticsaccredited coach and course measurer , and travels all over the world to work on events , including the Olympics . He has been appointed by World Athletics as Technical Delegate to a number of the world ’ s leading Label events in Africa , Asia and the Middle East . He has authored two books ( Everyman ’ s Guide to Distance Running and Every Beginner ’ s Guide to Walking & Running ), and counts 20 Comrades medals amongst his more than 150 ultra-marathon medals , as well as multiple wins at distances from 100km to 1000km . You can read more from him at www . coachnorrie . co . za .
Images : Tobias Ginsberg & Jaco Wolmarans
20 ISSUE 156 | www . modernathlete . co . za