BAA gets tough with non-affiliate clubs

THATO KALA
Correspondent | Friday June 21, 2013 00:00

 

This, according to a BAA official, has been sparked by event organisers who deceive athletes by promising huge prize monies and later default. BAA vice president, Glody Dube fired a broadside at event organisers who take advantage of athletes.'We had an incident last time where an organiser went to the media and gave a huge figure as the prize money, only to give the winners P500 at the end of the event.The athletes came back to us complaining and we are mandated to protect athletes,' Dube told Mmegi Sport.

He added: 'It has to be a straightforward thing - only affiliates will organise races. If a sponsor wants to come on board they can do so through an affiliate.'We will not deal with individuals, we will work with our affiliates because we are accountable to IAAF if anything goes wrong. When a non-affiliate hosts an event, no one is accountable to the association when things go wrong,' Dube said. He stressed the importance of sponsors and organisers liaising with the association on all athletics events.  The former long distance runner said there was little time for marathon runners between last month's Steinmetz Gaborone Marathon and the Mascom Phikwe Marathon that was dominated by Zimbabweans over the weekend. Ideally, Dube said, there should have been three months in between to ensure optimum performance from the locals.

Dube said the idea was to get local athletes to qualify for international competitions like the upcoming World Athletics Championships, adding the short time between the races may have affected local athletes. 'Some of our athletes did not do well in the marathon, the same guys who ran the Gaborone Marathon were in Phikwe and, in the best case, they must have had three months before another long distance competition,' he said.The Steinmetz, Botswana's largest running for charity event, was held in April last year, but had to be pushed to May this time around. 'We did not time our things properly this time and it affects the athletes. It's our obligation as an association to smoothen things for both sponsors and athletes.'

Dube said the association is seeking dialogue with both sponsors to ensure the events are well spaced in future.He stressed that, as an association, they value sponsors and invite more companies to come on board.However, Dube reiterated they should use local clubs or the association through their trained personnel to administer these competitions.