Soweto Marathon, Carling Cup clash could’ve been avoided

Soweto Marathon Race Director, Danny Blumberg, admits that staging the race on the same weekend Kaizer Chiefs take on Mamelodi Sundowns at the FNB Stadium should have been avoided.

The race takes place on Sunday, a few hours after the Carling Knockout quarterfinal clash at the in the same precinct in Nasrec, south of Johannesburg.

The Soweto Marathon was declared officially opened on Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

“I think the two entities, being Chiefs and Soweto Marathon will look at that very carefully to understand how the risk rating was given. That said, we are all working together to make sure that it’s seamless for the football spectators and for the runners. I think going forward, lessons will be learnt [from this]. And I think there will be pressure put on the City of Joburg because it shouldn’t really happen that you’ve got two very big events so close to one another,” said Blumberg.

He added: “It’s not just the event time, but it’s after the event, the cleaning up, making sure we’re ready for the next set of guests. So, going forward, I think everyone has learnt a lesson and they will look at that closer.” Written by Ntsako Mkhari