Comrades Marathon Association members vote to go it alone

Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) members have voted overwhelmingly against re-affiliating with KwaZulu-Natal Athletics (KZNA), TimesLIVE has been told. In the first vote at the CMA special general meeting, 873 members elected to go with putting the CMA first as opposed to 229 who opted for an accommodative approach. And in the second ballot, 694 voted against re-affiliation with KZNA, while 338 wanted re-affiliation.

CMA members voted to cut ties with KZNA last year, hoping to affiliate instead to Athletics South Africa (ASA), but the national federation recently told the CMA that it wasn’t a possibility and they needed to affiliate with KZNA. The vote means that the CMA is now going it alone, which means ASA no longer has a claim to its broadcast rights. Until now ASA has owned the broadcast rights to all major athletics events, also including the Two Oceans Marathon, Cape Town Marathon and the national track and field championships. But the Comrades has always been the flagship, and without that, its package is likely to be devalued.