Posted: April 3, 2006

Athletics: Mismanagement Mars South African Race

From David Monti

© 2006 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved RaceResultsWeekly.com

By Riel Hauman

The less said about the third event in the highly touted –-and hugely sponsored-– Nedbank Matha Series of races in Pretoria on Saturday, the better. “What a joke – the circus continues!” was one of the kinder comments. “It was a ‘pick your own route to the finish’ affair” was another. “Athletics South Africa seems to have lost the plot” was a third.

While organisation of the second event in the series, in Port Elizabeth, was good, the first one in Johannesburg a few months ago received all-round criticism for sloppy organisation and an unaceptably tough course but at least it seemed as if the race distances (20 km & 10 km) were correct.

This time things went wrong from the start. Accusations were made that a marshal who sent the runners the wrong way was drunk, and that officials were sitting in the VIP tent eating instead of being at their posts. “This is a joke,” said top international runner Shadrack Hoff. “The guys were running up and down a hill inside the Pretoria Prison; one marshal would send them down while another would send the back up again.”

Hendrick Ramaala won the “20 km” race in 56:52, but the course was short by about a kilometre. Ramaala beat Cuthbert Nyasango (ZIM) in a sprint finish, with both receiving the same time.

Ramaala did not mince words afterwards: “We can’t take much more of this.” Commenting on the fact that the so-called seeding for elite runners was ignored by both the organisers and slow runners, Ramaala said: “The start was positioned in a narrow side street and we couldn’t get to the front. I only caught the lead bunch after 3 km.”

Ramaala’s wife, French runner Rodica Moroianu, accused the winner of the women’s race, Louisa Leballo, of cheating and taking a short cut. Leballo won in 71:20 with Moroianu second in 71:28. This caused an angry exchange of words between the two.

Criticism directed against ASA was harsh. One commentator said: “ASA seems to have lost the plot. Everything an event could want was laid out – balloons, clowns, stilt walkers, multi- million rand sound systems and large expensive tents – but they forgot to organise the one thing the athlete wants: a properly organised road race, something that is dished up on a weekly basis by the average club.

Linda Ferns, CEO of ASA, did little to address the criticism. “ASA are continually being told that they should leave the clubs to handle the races. My information was that the marshal who sent the runners the wrong way at the split between 10 and 20 kilometres was drunk, but how do we control this? He is a member of the club structure but people are always pointing fingers at us, however we are not throwing up our hands saying it is not our fault. We have to address this with our provincial structures, maybe with additional training,” she said.

Well-known coach Dewald Steyn probably put it best: “What a lot of amateurs! An unbelievably fast route could have been laid out but no, they had to include the hill on which the athletes of Correctional Services AC do their hill training! No, really, in this way road running will never be promoted in this country.”

For the record, the first three runners in the “20 km” were: MEN – 1. Hendrick Ramaala (RSA), 2. Cuthbert Nyasango (ZIM), 3. Enos Matalane. WOMEN – 1. Louisa Leballo (RSA), 2. Rodica Moroianu (FRA), 3. Gloria Baeba (RSA). In the “10 km” (actual distance unknown; all runners RSA): MEN – 1. Aaron Gabonewe, 2. Coolboy Ngamole, 3. Themba Kekana. WOMEN – 1. Ronel Thomas, 2. Catherine Nkosi, 3. Lebogang Phalula.

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