Marathon boss blasts 'unambitious' SA runners

Soweto Marathon Trust's chair Sello Khunou has ripped SA elite roadrunners apart, saying they are not hungry enough after a below par showing in the 2022 edition of the race on Sunday.

Ethiopians Daba Ifa Debele and Gadisa Bekele Guatama along with Lesotho’s Tsepo Ramashamole completed the podium places in the men’s race.  In the women’s race, the trio of Ethiopian runners Chaltu Bedo Negashu, Amelework Fikadu Bosho and Tinebebe Nebiyu Ali got the top three places.

Debele and Negashu each also took home the R250,000 prize money for winning the men’s and women’s races.

Khunou commended the Ethiopian internationals for the fight they showed.

“I would like to congratulate the athletes from Ethiopia, it is great because they show a fighting spirit. They come from so far and take the prize money. If I would get this money, I would go on pension,” Khunou said half-jokingly during yesterday’s post-race conference at the FNB Stadium.

However, Khunou was stern as he gave the locals a dressing down, saying they were not ambitious. He went as far as suggesting an indaba to help understand why SA athletes were failing to perform.

“Our guys here are not hungry enough;  they should be training on the road every day and doing the time trials on the road."

“Maybe we need an indaba with our athletes... to see what we can do for our athletes to perform,” Khunou said.

Ntsindiso Mphakathi, who finished fifth to be the first SA man home, shared his thoughts on Khunou’s views.

“The chairman doesn’t know what is happening to the athletes living around Soweto,” Mphakathi, a Soweto resident, said.

“So this course, according to my belief, I can’t do time trials on it while I’m preparing for a race. If the course is 40km, I’ll repeat two or three times in a small place,” he said.  

The last SA man to win the Soweto Marathon was Michael Mazibuko back in 2011, in a time of 2:19:04. The race did not take place in 2013, 2020 and 2021.

Meanwhile, Adele Broodryk, the first SA woman with a ninth-place finish, said she welcomed the competition from international athletes. 

“We welcome the internationals, they help us to push our boundaries,” she said.