Athletes fume after �wrong turn�
Naledi Lemogang | Tuesday September 19, 2017 15:34
The two were set to claim podium finishes but were shocked at the finish line to discover that they had used the wrong route along the 42km race. At the end, there was no cash prize awarded for second place in the women’s section, emanating from the route confusion.
Athletes said the race was disorganised with fewer marshals and route directions, with some runners forced to rely on police officers manning the race.
Tsatsa and Moyo now accuse the Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) and the organisers of the Mayor’s marathon of ill-treating them simply because they are foreigners. The two told Mmegi Sport yesterday that they tried to get three BAA officials to intervene, but were denied the opportunity to tell their story. Tsatsa said the BAA officials wanted the two runners to share P20,000 in a bid to resolve the matter, but the arrangement was turned down by the athletes.
“We cannot share the money without any valid reason because we need the truth to come out. We feel cheated and mistreated. It is not for the first time the BAA has refused with our prize money. The officials instructed us to take the money or leave. We wanted to seek a solution from the mayor (Kagiso Thutlwe). Unfortunately, we did not see him as he was in a meeting,” Tsatsa said. She said it was not their fault to have missed the route since there was no consistent marking along the way. She said in 2014, the BAA did not pay them after they participated in the Phikwe marathon.
They said they want to appeal the matter.
“Some BAA official said we should go back to Zimbabwe and train if we do not want to share the money. They use their power to silence us. We need evidence of the race because all the 42km runners were lost and confused on the way. We might have run over 42km,” the athletes argued. They said they are disappointed with how the BAA addresses and handles international runners’ matters especially where the athletes were not at fault.
BAA spokesperson, Ipolokeng Ramatshaba said he is not aware of the identity of BAA officials who handled the matter. However, he said they were right to tell the runners to share the money since they got lost along the way. He said the athletes were supposed to take the money to avoid going home empty-handed.
“Sharing the money is the only solution since the runners got lost on the way. There is no how they can take the full prize money whereas they failed to take the right route,” he said.