Johannesburg – The Absa Run Your City 10K Series will offer the biggest incentive purse to date in the history of South African road running, starting with the Durban race next month.
South African elite male runners will earn bonuses for 10K times faster than 28:30, culminating in a high of R200 000 for a time under 27 minutes. Elite female runners will have incentives for times faster than 32:00.
The incentive will be offered for the Durban event on Sunday, July 9.
With the announcement of the SA Athlete Incentives and the excellent level of middle-distance running currently in South Africa, the organisers hope world-class times will be recorded by the top SA athletes on the very fast Durban course.
The announcement follows the principle set last year, when the Durban 10K event paid out a whopping R475 000 in incentives.
In that race, cross-country star Maxime Chameton became the first South African to break the magical 28-minute barrier on South African soil, earning himself R100 000 when he clocked 27:58 to finish fourth overall.
Since then, both Precious Mashele and Thabang Mosiako have improved on that time as being the fastest ever run by a South African on home soil. Mashele broke the eight-year-old SA record of Stephen Mokoka, when he clocked 27:35 at the inaugural Gqeberha 10K in April.
Mashele took three seconds off the previous record in finishing second behind Kenya’s Daniel Ebenyo. Mosiako slashed 34 seconds off his previous best time of 28:26, set in Durban last year, by finishing third in Gqeberha with a time of 27:52.
“We have seen over the years how the standard of South African middle-distance running has improved at the Absa Series," said Michael Meyer, managing director of Stillwater Sports and founder of the Absa Series.
"The added incentives in 2022 in Durban saw the first South African break 28 min in South Africa when Maxime (Chaumeton) ran 27:58.
“In Gqeberha, we saw two more athletes going under 28 min in Precious Mashele and Thabang Mosiako. Clearly, the belief is there, and we hope with these incentives we will see even faster times here in South Africa, hopefully, a sub-27 min 10km.
"The end effect we hope will be twofold; a continued raising of the standard of middle distance running in South Africa, while ensuring that South African athletes can earn a good living without having to leave SA.”
Every SA elite athlete breaking the below times this year stands to win the corresponding bonus.
The incentives, Men:
sub-28:30 R5 000
sub-28:20 R15 000
sub-28:10 R30 000
sub-28:00 R60 000
sub-27:50 R80 000
sub-27:40 R100 000
sub-27:30 R120 000
sub-27:20 R140 000
sub-27:10 R160 000
sub-27:00 R200 000
Women:
sub-32:00 R5 000
sub 31:50 R15 000
sub 31:40 R30 000
sub 31:30 R60 000
sub 31:20 R80 000
sub 31:10 R100 000
sub 31:00 R120 000
sub 30:50 R140 000
sub 30:40 R160 000
sub 30:30 R200 000
@Herman_Gibbs
IOL Sport