The tarnished image of the Soweto Marathon suffered another blow after one of SA’s foremost running clubs, Hollywood Athletics Club, said it would no longer send its athletes to future marathons, saying the organisers “can’t be trusted”.
None of the winners of the race, which was staged on November 29 at Nasrec, have received their prize money. First-place winners in the open category were expecting R250,000, while runners-up were set to pocket R120,000.
Hollywood had several of their athletes in the top ten across all the distances, with Lesotho’s Joseph Seutloali claiming first prize in the men’s marathon.
Ntsindiso Mphakathi was second, while Onalenna Khonkhobe finished third. The Hollywood club also had a podium finish in the women’s marathon after Gerda Steyn finished third behind Kenya’s Margaret Jepchumba and Zambia’s Elizabeth Mukoloma.
Hollywood Elites team manager Manfred Seidler told Sowetan on Tuesday it had yet to hear from the organisers, the Soweto Marathon NPC, who’ve now stopped communicating with them.
“I’m not taking my athletes back there. We won’t go back. I simply don’t trust them.” — Manfred Seidler
“There are a lot of questions about what happened and why that money is not there,” Seidler said.
“The other problem is, of course, both the race and [title sponsors] African Bank assured us at the press conference that athletes will be paid.
“It’s extremely worrying because, as you know, these [funds] are athletes’ livelihoods. I’m not taking my athletes back there. We won’t go back.
“I don’t trust them. I know that CGA [Central Gauteng Athletics] is in talks with them, but what I understand is it is not only athletes who have not been paid. It looks like there are other vendors and other suppliers that have not been paid too.”
Seidler also revealed that the club is weighing its legal options against the NPC for their athletes to receive their money.
“If we go the legal route or the athletes do that, if there is no money, what’s the point? But the Soweto Marathon needs to be held accountable,” he said.
“It can’t just end like, ‘Oh, we don’t have money’ and the race happens again at the end of the year. Something has to be done and the athletes are really upset.”
Soweto Marathon NPC spokesperson Jabu Mbuli could not be reached for comment and failed to respond to text messages.
Meanwhile, Khonkhobe‘s coach, Pio Molokeng, said he was trying his best to make sure the issue doesn’t affect his athlete’s preparations for the Two Oceans Marathon next month.
Sowetan
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