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With just a few hours to go before the Soweto Marathon takes off on Sunday, it's still not clear whether the race will be shown live on television or not.
Soweto Marathon Trust chairperson Sello Khunou told City Press that discussions about the broadcasting of the race were ongoing, but he did not elaborate, citing confidentiality.
However, as things stand, broadcasters SABC and SuperSport, which are the exclusive broadcast rights holders, won't televise the event.
The SABC said last week that they would not broadcast the race and, in a strongly-worded statement, accused SuperSport of depriving the public broadcaster of securing the rights due to “the continuous anti-competitive behaviour of broadcasting competitor [SuperSport] and ASA [Athletics SA]”.
City Press has gathered that ASA is upset with the Soweto Marathon Trust for approaching the SABC to try to negotiate a broadcast deal when ASA had a signed agreement in place with SuperSport.
SuperSport told City Press on Friday:
Khunou refused to dwell much on the broadcast issue. However, what he did confirm was that over 20 000 runners were expected to line up across the event’s offering over three distances on Sunday morning, in the 42km, 21km and 10km.
In terms of the race, Khunou said the response had been good despite the aftermath of the Covid pandemic that had halted for two years the marathon that is steeped in tradition.
He said:
At the event in 2019, Khunou said, 40 000 runners entered the race and this was the figure the organisers had targeted for this year but were mindful of “Covid and the economic hardships of the people”.
“We are hoping that it will reach up to 23 000. Remember, we haven’t done a reconciliation since we are still taking entries [until the day before the race].”
While it is not clear who the top contenders will be, especially in the main race, the race office announced on Friday that they had invited legends to run in the 10km. The organisers said in a statement:
Batswadi became the first black athlete to be awarded Springbok colours in 1977 when the then SA Amateur Athletics Union deracialised its constitution, opening up the sport to all ethnicities. Known for his front running tactics, Batswadi earned nine national titles between 1975 and 1980. His 28:46.8 time in the 10 000m run in Germiston in 1978 remains the stadium record.
Temane was a force to be reckoned with in the 1980s. He was lethal over 1 500m, destructive over 5 000m and world class in the half marathon. He was crowned national champion 17 times. But Temane will arguably be best known for his duel with the late Zithulele Sinqe, the 1995 Soweto Marathon champion.
The race on Sunday will start and finish at the FNB Stadium.
The 42km starts at 5.30am; the 21km at 6.30am; and the 10km takes off at 7.30am.
The winning man and woman will get R250 000 in the main race, while 21km pays R10 000 and 10km offers R5 000.
– Additional information from the Soweto Marathon race office
