Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 161 September 2023 | Page 38

ROAD RUNNING

Terrific Showing in Tshwane

The inaugural running of the Absa RUN YOUR CITY TSHWANE 10K on 27 August saw the elites posting fast times and the masses enjoying a day out in the capital city , but before the race could set off , there was another race to get things ready for the runners , and the organisers posted a personal best of their own ! – BY SEAN FALCONER with JACKY McCLEAN

In sporting terms , specifically baseball , a curveball is a type of pitch that puts forward spin on the ball , causing it to dip as it approaches the batter , and thus trick them into missing . When it comes to organising an event , a curveball is something completely different . In this context , it usually refers to something unexpectedly changing or going wrong , and a “ last-minute curveball ” means something changing or going wrong just before the

The leading men early in the race , with Precious Mashele , Mathews Leeto , eventual winner Kabelo Seboko-Mulaudzi and Elroy Gelant setting the pace
event . Unsurprisingly , event organisers do not like curveballs , and do everything they can to avoid them , but they also understand that curveballs can sometimes come flying straight at their heads . That ’ s when organisers need to think on their feet , and come up with a ‘ Plan B .’
That ’ s exactly what the Stillwater Sports organising team of the recent Absa RUN YOUR CITY TSHWANE
10K had to do , when they found out on the Saturday morning that the planned and approved start line for their new race the next morning , right in front of the steps of the Union Building , was not going to be allowed . To cut a long story short , they had been told everything was approved and had all the necessary paperwork , but somehow , an administrative step somewhere between the Municipality of Tshwane and the governmental department in charge of the Union Building had been missed , and not everybody at the Union Building was on the same proverbial page . So when the trucks with all the start line fencing , branding , tents and sound equipment arrived , they were promptly told to move on !
Between them , the Stillwater team have a ton of eventing experience , and they put heads together , worked out solutions , remeasured part of the route , moved gear and activations , and by the next morning , everything was ready when the runners began arriving for the race . The start line was now just below the Union Building , where the race finish was , and while that didn ’ t offer quite the same awesome setting that the original start would have , it still allowed a smooth and vibey start , as some 5000 runners lined up for the new race .
At the beginning of this year , it was announced that the Absa RUN YOUR CITY Series would grow from three races to five . The series was launched in 2015 in Cape Town , then Joburg ( 2016 ) and Durban ( 2017 ) were added , and this year saw the addition of the new Gqeberha and Tshwane races . The RUN YOUR
Images : Tobias Ginsberg , Charles Ndou , Felix Dlanga
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