Gloomy outlook for elite road runners

It has become the norm for local road running events to be called off, and while most sports have managed to get going under lockdown and have even gained momentum, some athletes are still stranded.

Domestic track meetings gave distance runners some opportunities to compete in the first half of the season, and those who can secure invites to international races could have a full calendar of events lined up.

But for some of South Africa’s best road runners, their careers are on the line and they must be losing hope.

A release in restrictions saw the recent return of elite contests, with Athletics SA hosting the national half-marathon championships in Gqeberha last month, while Nedbank backed a record-breaking 50km ultra-marathon in the coastal city a few weeks later.

The return to lockdown level three, however, has pushed the sport back once more, with organisers again struggling to hold live events.

It’s not all doom and gloom for social athletes, who can still run together in small groups and can participate in virtual races.

For everyone else, however, there’s plenty of gloom and it might well end in doom.

Many of the country’s elite athletes rely on the local circuit to earn their income, but the domestic calendar has largely dried up with major events being scrapped during the pandemic.

And though there was a glimmer of light last month, the third wave of Covid resulted in the postponement of the first leg of the lucrative Spar Grand Prix women’s 10km series in Durban this weekend.

Organisers are still confident of holding the live series later in the year, and the virtual campaign shouldn’t be affected, but this news would have delivered a significant blow to the ambitions of some individuals.

It also has a ripple effect across the board.

Without live events, the sponsors and the broadcasters take a big knock, and the stakeholders who are funding the sport will have to question how long they can support races without knowing if they’re going to be held.

The best we can hope for at this stage is that we get through the third wave in time for all six races in the Spar Grand Prix to be held this year, and for lockdown restrictions to allow other major events on the calendar to go ahead as planned.

If not, the elite road running campaign will eventually resume without some of the sport’s best athletes, who might just lose hope and call it quits.