Olympic fever on a scorching Durban day was doused by the cold reality of money concerns at the Absa national athletics championships on Friday when it was discovered that cash incentives promised to the athletes for quality performances were not covered by the sponsors.
Athletes were this week promised between R10 000 and R30 000 for performances ranging from wins, Olympic qualifiers and national records during the championships over two days that double up as trials for the Athens Olympic Games in August.
On Friday, however, it emerged that the projected total of between R300 000 and R500 000 had not been included in Absa’s budget for the two-day championships.
”We’ll have to make a plan and beg, steal or borrow from somewhere,” said a concerned Athletics SA (ASA) CEO Banele Sindani when asked how much in total had been budgeted for the cash incentives.
”All I can say is that the incentives have not been covered in the Absa budget.”
Sindani announced on Tuesday that athletes at the championships would receive R30 000 for a South African record and R20 000 for a win and second place that was an IAAF Olympic qualifier. Winners who gained an IAAF B qualification for the Olympics were promised R10 000.
”It will be sad day if they don’t come through with the money,” said Shaun Bownes, the defending 110m hurdles champion and captain of the South African track and field team to the world championships in Paris last year.
”But I’m positive that ASA will make a plan and come through with the money. It would break the morale of the athletes if they didn’t. Athletics is at a very positive stage and we cannot afford to break morale down at this crucial stage in the build-up to Athens.”
Morale was indeed high on day one in which 10 finals were contested for — most of them in the field events — with a feast of high-powered track competition on offer on Saturday.
Two athletes, hammer-thrower Chris Haremse and Janus Robberts in the shot put, emerged as R10 000 incentive-winners on Friday.
Harmse touched down with a B-qualifier 78,56m in the hammer throw and Robberts, who competed despite having come down with pneumonia during the week, threw a B-qualifier 20,15m for the shot-put gold.
The 400m hurdles for men promises to share the high point of the championships with the 800m and 100m men’s finals on Saturday.
Ockert Cilliers, the on-form hurdler over 400m at this stage of the season, cruised into the finals on Saturday with 50,43 seconds that beat Hennie Botha’s 50,85 seconds. Alwyn Myburgh had to push harder to win his heat in 49,53 seconds against Marnus Kritzinger who ran 49,87 seconds.
But even this dynamic field go into Saturday’s final wary of that wily lion of the track Llewellyn Herbert, who went through in 50,54 seconds.
”I had to take it easy because I spiked my Achilles tendon during training this week,” said Herbert afterwards. Is he playing mind games with his young rivals? Only Saturday will tell.
Livewire Leigh Julius is on a mercurial mission after winning the South African junior title. He broke the junior 100m record in winning his semifinal in 10,29 seconds, but his time was unratified because the tail-wind was too strong.
With Sherwin Vries out of the reckoning because of a hamstring injury, Julius is well set up to claim the grand double if he can hold off Leeroy Newton and Matthew Quinn.
Then there’s the stand-off in the 800m between Mbuluani Mulaudsi, the defending champion and world indoor champion, against Hezekiel Sepeng. Both are eyeing medals at Athens and Mulaudsi enjoys the advantage of going through to the finals in a relaxed 1:54,27 against the 1:49,80 that Sepeng had to run beat Bondo Maboa’s 1:49,74.
In the 400m Marcus la Grange ran 46,98 seconds and looks the man to beat against Paul Gorries (47,39) and Hendrik Mokganyetsi (47,14).
Okkert Brits needed one jump at 5,40m to retain his pole-vault title. He didn’t continue because he hurt an abdominal muscle.
”I hurt myself during the week,” said Brits, who married in December. ”But I felt I had to compete because these are my 13th national championships.”
In the pole vault for women, Samantha Dodd cleared 3,90m to win gold against Annelie van Wyk (3,80) and Ida-Marie Ehlers (3,80).
Lizelle Roelofse won the hammer throw for women at 51,45m against Tanya Treurnicht’s 47,41m.
Rene Kalmer ran 16 minutes and 17,32 seconds to beat Poppy Mlambo (16:20,10) and Desire Kurger (16:26,62) for the women’s 5 000m title. — Sapa