ATHLETICS: Julian Drew
THE annual Soweto Marathon takes place for the second time on Sunday and despite the teething problems with the organisation of the race, it is fast becoming South Africa’s premier city marathon.
Last year the race did not obtain official sanction from the South African Road Running Association. The Transvaal Amateur Athletic Congress (TAACON) decided to go ahead and organise the race anyway and provided the kind of event which was long overdue in South African athletics
Despite several attempts to undermine it, the Soweto Marathon went ahead to become the first high profile, sponsored road race to take place in the townships. It was an overwhelming success with nearly 3 200 participants, but what made it truly special was the response of the people of Soweto.
Apart from the Comrades and Two Oceans marathons, other road races in South Africa have failed to arouse the enthusiasm of the public in the way that the big city marathons have done in the rest of the world. but Soweto rose to the occasion and thousands of residents lined the streets to give the kind of welcome only they were capable of.
Many white runners, who admitted to participating with a certain amount of trepidation, vowed to return this year just to sample the atmosphere of a real “people’s marathon”.
While the Soweto Marathon will never be a fast race due to the hilly course and the altitude of Johannesburg, its first staging demonstrated its potential to become a world class mass participation race which could become a much desired date for athletes on the international big city marathon circuit.
It was surprising then to find the race without a sponsor just one month before this year’s starter’s gun was due to be fired. The official explanation of this was that with the recent unity between TAACON and the Transvaal Amateur Athletic Association, it was decided to incorporate the Johannesburg Marathon into the Soweto Marathon.
The Johannesburg Marathon already had a contractual commitment with the SABC to televise the race and that led to the withdrawal of last year’s main sponsor, M-Net. It appears, however, that this was merely a face saving escape route for both parties.
The race organisers had become increasingly unhappy with the demands being made by M-Net and their attempts to take over the organisation of the event.
The race entry forms only went out three weeks ago and race director Banele Sindani admitted that at that stage he still did not have a sponsor.
Fortunately the clothing company Mr Price stepped in two weeks ago to ensure that the organisers were able to meet their commitment of over R100 000 in prize money.
Sunday’s race is expected to attract a field of over 5 000 and anybody with a sudden urge to participate can register on Saturday between 8am and 5pm at Nasrec (Gate 2).