A BITTER legal battle pitting South Africa's running legend Zola Budd-Pieterse against KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) and the Comrades Marathon Association is brewing.
Budd-Pieterse won the 40-49 years category of the Comrades Marathon this year, but was stripped of her medal and accolades on a technicality because she did not wear her age- category tag.
Budd-Pieterse has disputed this ruling, saying she had won it "fair and square" and that administrators applying rules inconsistently had plagued her career. She claims that their decision to strip her of the medal and accolades were unfair.
Despite her various attempts to appeal against the decision, she claimed to have received the cold shoulder from KZNA and the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA).
Budd-Pieterse, who lives in the US, has left her manager Ray de Vries and her lawyers to fight this battle on her behalf. They have given the two organisations seven days to reinstate Budd-Pieterse's win or face legal action.
"It is a debacle with no equal in the history of the race," said De Vries.
"It is now twelve weeks since the Comrades Marathon and Zola Budd- Pieterse has still not had any communication from KZNA regarding their age- category disqualification. The technical delegate of KZNA announced that they would have a meeting on the issue and sort it out promptly. Our information is that the meeting went ahead and the technical delegate informed the president what their decision and findings were. Their decision was that the Comrades had erred in stripping her of the ladies veteran title."
Yesterday was the launch of the 90th Comrades Marathon, which will be staged on May 31 next year.
"How on earth can the race start celebrating next year's race when this matter has not even been finished?" asked De Vries. "I have worked with race officials and federations all over the world and sadly I must say that this is the worst I have ever seen."
KZNA manager Dees Govender said although he was aware of the incident and that his organisation was handling it, he had no authority to speak to the media about it.
He referred queries to KZNA president Sello Mokoena, who could not be reached. CMA spokesperson Delaine Cools was also not available for comment.
Zola set to fight for title
A BITTER legal battle pitting South Africa's running legend Zola Budd-Pieterse against KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA) and the Comrades Marathon Association is brewing.
Budd-Pieterse won the 40-49 years category of the Comrades Marathon this year, but was stripped of her medal and accolades on a technicality because she did not wear her age- category tag.
Budd-Pieterse has disputed this ruling, saying she had won it "fair and square" and that administrators applying rules inconsistently had plagued her career. She claims that their decision to strip her of the medal and accolades were unfair.
Despite her various attempts to appeal against the decision, she claimed to have received the cold shoulder from KZNA and the Comrades Marathon Association (CMA).
Budd-Pieterse, who lives in the US, has left her manager Ray de Vries and her lawyers to fight this battle on her behalf. They have given the two organisations seven days to reinstate Budd-Pieterse's win or face legal action.
"It is a debacle with no equal in the history of the race," said De Vries.
"It is now twelve weeks since the Comrades Marathon and Zola Budd- Pieterse has still not had any communication from KZNA regarding their age- category disqualification. The technical delegate of KZNA announced that they would have a meeting on the issue and sort it out promptly. Our information is that the meeting went ahead and the technical delegate informed the president what their decision and findings were. Their decision was that the Comrades had erred in stripping her of the ladies veteran title."
Yesterday was the launch of the 90th Comrades Marathon, which will be staged on May 31 next year.
"How on earth can the race start celebrating next year's race when this matter has not even been finished?" asked De Vries. "I have worked with race officials and federations all over the world and sadly I must say that this is the worst I have ever seen."
KZNA manager Dees Govender said although he was aware of the incident and that his organisation was handling it, he had no authority to speak to the media about it.
He referred queries to KZNA president Sello Mokoena, who could not be reached. CMA spokesperson Delaine Cools was also not available for comment.
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