The Kwa-Thema Striders Athletics Club has also been hit hard by the postponement and cancellation of various athletics events due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The latest major event to be cancelled is the Comrades Marathon, which was set to be held next month in Durban, but was called off due to the health risks. Members of the Kwa-Thema-based club often participate in the ‘Ultimate Human Race’ and this year was going to be no exception, with preparations well under way ahead of what is arguably the country’s biggest annual athletics event.
Founder of the Striders Club who is now the operator of a multi-sport organization that’s also based in Kwa-Thema, called Rejuvenating Sports Centre, Thabang Mokoke, says a lot goes into preparing athletes for events such as the Comrades, to ensure that they go into them in their best shape.
”It (the cancellation) has affected us a lot because we’ve been planning from last year for some of our athletes to participate in the Comrades. But, unfortunately, since there’s corona, it has killed us because there’s a budget that gets prepared for those athletes; also things like the diet, they go for physio, they go to psychologists to prepare them for the big races. So, with all the plans and the costs, it has affected us because we won’t be able to gauge our athletes’ improvements this year.
“And again, with the Olympics, we had prepared some to participate in them, (but) they couldn’t even participate in the trials for the Olympics, so it’s a big loss for the organization but we’re hoping that things will revolve again so we can prepare for next year,” adds Mokoke.
This year’s Olympic Games, which were scheduled to take place in the Japanese capital city of Tokyo, are arguably the biggest casualty among the world’s sports events that have been forced back by the pandemic, as they are now set to be held in 2021. Mokoke, who is a former runner himself, says there is a silver lining, though, with the extra time that athletes now have to prepare for the Games.
“It’s an opportunity for the athletes that hadn’t prepared 100 percent for those big tournaments, to improve their health and their state of physical strength for next year; it’s not that really bad.”
The Striders Athletics Club, which has been active since 2010, has approximately 500 members from around Kwatsaduza and other townships in Gauteng such as Soweto, as well as members from other provinces such as Mpumalanga, according to Mokoke. He says even though they still have challenges, such as a lack of training and development facilities in Kwa-Thema, it does, however, make him happy to see his brainchild having grown as much as it has.
Mokoke says it is even more satisfying because the aim of starting the club over a decade ago was to help develop athletes in their township.
“It is a very good feeling because I can see some progress. The club was founded in 2009 by myself and Mr. Maruping, the chairperson. The aim was to implement the news strategy of development in athletics, since athletics in the townships was poorly developed.”
* Cover image: Kwa-Thema Striders Facebook page.
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