Time for our cross-country stars to step up

As each edition of the event passes by without a South African standing on the podium, the possibility of an endless drought becomes more likely, and one has to wonder whether the nation will ever earn a medal at the World Cross-Country Championships.

Most of the country’s top distance runners have tried to break the drought since readmission.

Olympic silver medallist Elana Meyer, New York Marathon winner Hendrick Ramaala, supremely gifted track star Shadrack Hoff and versatile athlete Stephen Mokoka have all attempted to break the duck, and all have failed.

Two SA-born athletes have earned medals at the biennial showpiece, but both narrowly missed out on doing so for their native land before jumping ship and achieving the feet in the colours of their adoptive nations.

Zola Budd won the senior women’s race in 1985, a year after switching allegiance to the United Kingdom, and she retained her title the following season.

After ditching her British vest for a South African singlet, Budd went on to finish fourth in Amorebieta in 1993, missing the podium by one second.

Three years later, in Stellenbosch, Colleen de Reuck came even closer to grabbing a medal. Though she crossed the line in fifth position, she was credited with the same time as Kenyan athlete Naomi Mugo in third place after a tightly contested sprint.

De Reuck went on to step on the podium, securing the bronze medal in Avenches in 2003 after taking up US citizenship and competing

Wesley Bo on

under the Star Spangled Banner.

Cross-country is tough, and the senior men’s and women’s 10km races are considered among the most challenging distance running contests on the global circuit.

While track athletes and road runners tend to specialise, cross country races feature individuals ranging from middle-distance track athletes to marathon runners, creating a large pool of competitors with various strengths.

Add to this the typically challenging cold and wet conditions, tight corners and sharp climbs, and a cross-country race can be brutal.

The core development discipline of distance running, cross country is considered crucial in introducing young athletes to the sport, and those who have climbed the ranks in the mud and rain have generally progressed into top performers on the track, and ultimately the road, as their careers have progressed.

In the professional era, with most major sponsorships and media coverage focusing on the track and the road, the discipline has lost some of its support at elite level, but cross-country still forms the base of the sport at development level.

And if major medals are achievable on the track and the road, it seems South African athletes must be equally capable of challenging for medals in a core discipline of the sport.

But it has been a long time since anyone has come even close to achieving the feat.

The World Cross-Country Championships will be held in Aarhus, Denmark next year, and we’ll be able to tell by the quality of the field and the intent of the athletes in the senior races at today’s SA Cross-Country Championships in Port Elizabeth whether they are eager to chase an historic medal next season.

At this point there is no end to the drought in sight, but good races today might suggest there is still hope. At least with hope, the athletes will give themselves a chance.