Prize money to double for next year's Hollywoodbets Durban Summer 10k
Organizers of the inaugural Hollywoodbets Durban Summer 10k race held in Durban on Sunday, say the event was an unbridled success. With 1 000 participants plus perfect weather conditions - athletes never disappointed as fast times were produced on race day. Race director Mdu Khumalo has revealed that they achieved beyond expectations despite having just six weeks to prepare for the showdown.
"I'm so happy with the way things turned out to be on race day. We never had a problem from screening the athletes as well as having the race start on time," explains the Phantane Athletics Club founder. "In most cases when you host a race for the first time you encounter problems, but we never had such. The turnout was good because remember we aimed for 500 runners but due to demands, we were forced to increase the entries. Even athletes managed to clock times which is a good thing," he explained.
The race had a prize purse of R15 000 for the winner in both the men's and women's categories, which came as a huge boost to athletes who have been hit hard by the Covid19 lockdown which resulted in the cancellation of many running events across the world. The good news is that the sponsors of the race Hollywoodbets, have promised to double the prize money next year and bring live television as just some of the major changes they hop to implement in 2022.
"Our target is to make this race to be the biggest 10k in the country from prize money and participants. Next year we target 5 000 runners on the start which is possible because we will have proper time to plan the event," Hollywoodbets Operations Executive Morgan Shandu told #TheTopRunner.
"Plus as the sponsor, we are going to double the prize money to R30 000 for the 1st prize. The race must be broadcast live on television for the people to have easy access to it. I know it's possible. That's one of the reasons we are showing to the public that we care about running community," he said.