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.
