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Dingilizwe Ntuli, Sports Editor
I was left bitterly disappointed by the poorly organised PPC 33-Miler on Saturday. I normally watch the chaos unfold from the sidelines, but this time I was directly affected because I was one of the participants in the half marathon.
In fact, I have been taking part in the PPC half marathon runs for the past three years and I must point out that the run-up to the start of the 21.1km race was a total shambles and outright awful.
The Bulawayo Athletics Board (Bab) ought to be more serious and professional and not just boast about the high turnout. Yes, more than 1 000 people turned up for the various races and fun run, but the treatment we endured was pathetic.
Firstly, the reception at the Large City Hall was non-existent as there were no marshals to direct people upon arrival at around 5am. While we are now used to the poor reception over the years, the worst was yet to come.
When the bus to ferry the runners to the starting point arrived, it proved just how unprepared Bab is to host such events.
There was just one bus, which was not enough to transport all the runners to the starting point, but we were loaded into it like sardines. Had it not been for the love of running, a lot of people, including me, would have opted out of this year’s run. The bus was dangerously overloaded and had it been involved in an accident, it would have surpassed the 1991 bus disaster that killed 87 people comprising 80 pupils from Regina Coeli High School and seven adults in Nyanga.
It would have been better had Bab informed us beforehand to find our own way to the starting point to avoid the farce we were subjected to from the City Hall to the starting point.
More frustration was to greet the runners at the finish line at the Bulawayo Athletic Club (BAC) where water ran out while hundreds of people were still running. Imagine after running for close to two hours only to find no water to hydrate one’s body. Well, that’s what I and other runners that have no hope of ever winning the prize were met with at the finish line and there was no one to help.
I believe the running fraternity in Bulawayo like to run. Although they don’t expect much, they do want to be respected and don’t enter races just for Bab to announce a huge turnout.
I believe it’s still possible for Bab to organise safer events that don’t cost the earth. All that’s needed is for Bab to show more care and attention if they want to retain non-professional runners like myself and others that turned up on Saturday in their numbers for future runs.
Saturday’s event was badly organised what with the 33 miles race leading pack getting lost after being (mis) led along the wrong route by the lead car.
Sponsors don’t pour in money for such child’s play. If the leading guys were lost for the first 25km, then it means the running times for the winners that Bab presented are fake.
How does someone that was lost for 25km win a 55km race? By loading lost runners in a car and dropping them off at the front, according to Bab. This proves that Bab is joke, and I wonder how the sponsors PPC agreed to such absurdity.
Bab messed up this year’s PPC 33-Miler and resorting to truancy in a bid to right its inefficiency can only serve to keep top runners away from what should generally be good events. Saturday’s event was a total disaster.
— @dilizwe
Online Reporter