Over the last couple of decades, the Spar Grand Prix series has established itself not only as a platform for the country’s top women athletes to earn regular income, but also as a feeding ground for the nation’s rising stars.
While the first Spar Women’s Challenge 10km races were held in the early 1990s, it wasn’t until 2007 that series founder Ian Laxton suggested they be packaged together in a campaign for elite road runners.
Since then, every one of the country’s top SA-based distance runners has shone at some point in the annual series.
A decision a few years ago, however, changed the face of the popular campaign, and after opening the door for foreigners to earn series prize money (they previously got cash prizes from races but were restricted from the overall campaign), the series now lies at a crossroads.
In terms of local development, nothing has changed, and the series continues to act as a breeding ground for young athletes.
There has also been the added benefit of the domestic standard being raised, with local athletes chasing top-class runners from other countries.
Those same visitors who have raised the standard, however, have also snatched most of the media coverage and lucrative rewards on offer, with South Africa’s top runners playing second fiddle in a battle for minor podium places.
Now that they’ve got so much international interest, particularly from other African countries, organisers won’t want to let that go. And, considering how many South Afrcans have earned lucrative prize money at races around the world, it would smell a little too much like xenophobia if they did.
Of course, the sponsor and other series partners are not supporting it with a bottomless bucket of funds, and they’ll have to be strategic, but in order to give SA’s top athletes more coverage and prize money, they’re going to have to make another change.
Even if it offers a small percentage of the overall purse, a separate series within the series for SA athletes could provide a solution by giving local athletes the exposure they need to become full-time professional athletes.
It is a bit cheeky to expect one series to carry women’s road running development in the country, but the Grand Prix campaign has already laid a solid platform for the sport and it has done more for women’s athletics than just about any other event in the country.
But by making another tweak or two they could finally find that happy place where local and international athletes can run together with nobody missing out.
It’s a delicate balance, but if they can find a way to merge the best of both worlds, it will make a great series even greater.
