28 Aug 2018

Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) has expressed concern about mushrooming marathons in the country.

Investigations have revealed that 60 per cent of marathons hosted in Botswana are not sanctioned by BAA, and in some instances, athletes found it difficult to get their prize monies.

In an interview, BAA secretary, Raymond Phale said indicated that those who wished to host a marathon were to request for permission from the athletics association.

Once approved, he said the marathon would be incorporated into the BAA calendar of events.

Again, he said those who wished to host a marathon were also encouraged to commit to paying athletes the prize monies as well as official allowances immediately after the race.

He lamented that most of the marathons were held under the auspices of charity.

However, he said the associaion desired to see all marathons properly sanctioned and in turn benefit athletes in qualifying for international events.

Further, he said they were in the process of instructing clubs that all marathons not sanctioned by BAA not to partake in such.

“Both our clubs and officials should not participate in all these marathons that are not sanctioned by association and therefore are a no go area for them,” Phale emphasised.

He stressed that BAA was not against marathons, but just wanted stakeholders to follow right procedures.

Meanwhile, in 2016, the then BAA president, Moses Bantsi told the media that the association would take action as they could not watch helplessly when athletics was turned into a fundraising activity, only to benefit some individuals.  

As an example, Bantsi had indicated that they were shocked to learn that a 13-year-old had won some marathon in Francistown.

That, he said was unacceptable as it was against the good practice of the IAAF for a minor to run that kind of a race. ENDS