The Eastern Cape has been dealt a major sporting blow after the province’s flagship road running event, the Legends Marathon, was cancelled.
The organisers of the annual extravaganza confirmed to the Daily Dispatch that this year’s edition will not take place on October 1.
At the centre of the cancellation is the reduction by 40% of the partnership funding Legends received from the Eastern Cape department of sport, recreation, arts and culture (DSRAC).
The department had injected R2-million into the event in the previous two years but was willing to only fork out R1.2-million this time around.
This left Legends founder and chairman Luthando Bara with no choice but to pull the plug on what was supposed to be the fourth edition of the race, he said.
According to Bara the total costs of putting the race together came to R4.3-million with more than a quarter of the amount going to prize money for the runners.
The cancellation is a big blow to sport tourism in the province and a step backwards to sport development, especially athletics.
Bara said he tried everything in his power to salvage the situation but was finally forced to cancel the race after it became clear he would be unable to finance it from his own pocket.
He said the budget would not be enough to cover all costs and would have led to another “Nomeva situation”, where athletes did not receive their winnings as happened to popular boxer Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni, who is yet to be paid R1-million he won in the Premier Boxing League two years ago.
It is not clear whether the Legends Marathon will return next year. Bara said he was considering relocating the race to another province.
“Over the three years the Legends Marathon has grown to be an international marathon, bringing runners from all nine provinces in the country and some 13 countries to the Eastern Cape,” he said.
“This has contributed enormously to tourism growth in the Buffalo City Metro and the province. Sports tourism has received a major boost and athletics was the main beneficiary.
“If this race is not important to the province and I am not making money out of it, then it does not make sense to continue with it.”
Bara said the department had informed organisers in July about a 40% reduction in the partnership funding.
“The reduction, the confusion around it and the timing have made it difficult to stage a better and bigger event,” he said.
“While we are saddened by the decision we apportion no blame to anyone as partners have a right to exercise discretion in their funding decisions.
“However, had we anticipated or known this earlier we would have made an additional effort to meet the shortfall.”
DSRAC had not responded to questions yesterday at the time of writing.
Last week spokesman Andile Nduna said “support of any sport event is subject to availability of funds”, adding “government support alone may not be sufficient, hence we encourage business to secure more sponsorships”.
Border Athletics president Daan Louw said the cancelling of the event was a big blow to the sport’s development in the province. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
Legends race scrapped after R1m cut in provincial finance
The organisers of the annual extravaganza confirmed to the Daily Dispatch that this year’s edition will not take place on October 1.
At the centre of the cancellation is the reduction by 40% of the partnership funding Legends received from the Eastern Cape department of sport, recreation, arts and culture (DSRAC).
The department had injected R2-million into the event in the previous two years but was willing to only fork out R1.2-million this time around.
This left Legends founder and chairman Luthando Bara with no choice but to pull the plug on what was supposed to be the fourth edition of the race, he said.
According to Bara the total costs of putting the race together came to R4.3-million with more than a quarter of the amount going to prize money for the runners.
The cancellation is a big blow to sport tourism in the province and a step backwards to sport development, especially athletics.
Bara said he tried everything in his power to salvage the situation but was finally forced to cancel the race after it became clear he would be unable to finance it from his own pocket.
He said the budget would not be enough to cover all costs and would have led to another “Nomeva situation”, where athletes did not receive their winnings as happened to popular boxer Xolisani “Nomeva” Ndongeni, who is yet to be paid R1-million he won in the Premier Boxing League two years ago.
It is not clear whether the Legends Marathon will return next year. Bara said he was considering relocating the race to another province.
“Over the three years the Legends Marathon has grown to be an international marathon, bringing runners from all nine provinces in the country and some 13 countries to the Eastern Cape,” he said.
“This has contributed enormously to tourism growth in the Buffalo City Metro and the province. Sports tourism has received a major boost and athletics was the main beneficiary.
“If this race is not important to the province and I am not making money out of it, then it does not make sense to continue with it.”
Bara said the department had informed organisers in July about a 40% reduction in the partnership funding.
“The reduction, the confusion around it and the timing have made it difficult to stage a better and bigger event,” he said.
“While we are saddened by the decision we apportion no blame to anyone as partners have a right to exercise discretion in their funding decisions.
“However, had we anticipated or known this earlier we would have made an additional effort to meet the shortfall.”
DSRAC had not responded to questions yesterday at the time of writing.
Last week spokesman Andile Nduna said “support of any sport event is subject to availability of funds”, adding “government support alone may not be sufficient, hence we encourage business to secure more sponsorships”.
Border Athletics president Daan Louw said the cancelling of the event was a big blow to the sport’s development in the province. — zingisam@dispatch.co.za
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