Johannesburg — Tete Dijana’s lot may have improved immensely following his victory at the Comrades Marathon last year, the Nedbank Running Club athlete having received a financial windfall that saw him make life better for himself and his family.
You’d think that given his new-found status as the king of arguably the greatest ultra marathon in the world, Dijana would be swimming in personal sponsorships. But no, the man who is also the world record holder in the 50km following his scintillating run in the Nedbank Runified race is still at the mercy of his club for most of his running needs.
He still has to wait for his club to get his running shoes and supplements — and he is lucky that he runs for a club that enjoys such although the supply of those necessities are not as regular as you’d expect them to be for one at such an elite level of the sport.
From the outside one would think that winning the Comrades Marathon is a key to untold riches; a doorway to a better life brought about by support from the corporate world eager to have their brands associated with winners.
Australia-based runner Wayne Spies who trains with Dijana’s group certainly thought so.
“He asked us if we were millionaires,” Mothibi said during breakfast at a restaurant in Dullstroom where the group coached by Dave Adams have been preparing for next weekend’s Comrades.
“I certainly thought they are very rich. They are big athletes who ahve won very big, why shouldn’t they be?” Spies explained.
But corporate South Africa just does not seem to see the value in Comrades champions. At least that’s what some of those who have been victorious in recent years — particularly black runners — seem to think.
Dijana’s teammate and 2019 winner Edward Mothibi who finished runner up last year has lamented the lack of personal sponsorships for celebrated athletes like himself.
“We are lucky that we run for Nedbank because at least there is sponsorship for things such as running shoes and supplements and we appreciate that. But why is it that there are no personal sponsors. We hear that the Comrades Marathon is the biggest race in the country but besides the prize monies and bonus, there has not been anything else. Don’t corporate see value in associating with us as champions of such a big race? This lack of personal sponsors is killing us as athletes because we look at other sportsmen in other codes being supported and we wonder if we are in the wrong sports.”
Dijana says he has received a mobile phone from Samsung who have expressed an interest to have him as their brand ambassador, but nothing has come out of those discussions and his reign could end next weekend unless he defends his title.
Gift Kelehe, a champion back in 2015, finds it very strange that a man who won the race way back in the 1990s continues to be sponsored while he and other recent champions don’t attract backing from corporate South Africa.
“They clearly don’t value us because few of us get personal sponsors. Ye everyone in this country talks about how great the Comrades Marathon, but the corporate world does not see us as people who can bring value to their brands. But it is strange that Shaun Meiklejohn who won in 1992 drives a sponsored car because of his status as a former champion while the recent winners don’t get even shoe sponsorships Is it a race thing, I wonder?”
They have some point in that South African corporate remain mainly white-owned and thus more likely to sponsor a white athlete than a black one irrespective of their achievements. Rugby and cricket players continue to enjoy great personal sponsorships in comparison to other sportsmen.
Yet, there is also the lack of self-marketing on the part of road runners and in their defence perhaps is the fact that a lot of them are just not educated enough to know and understand that they have to use their status to sell themselves to corporate instead of expecting the corporate to approach them.
Still, it does not make sense that a champion of Tete Dijana’s stature — Comrades winner and world 50km record holder — who has the looks to sell just about any product has not been approached by any corporate to be used as a brand ambassador.
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