AFRICAN ATHLETES GET FINANCIAL BOOST

  

 
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November 10, 2004

An initiative to bolster African athletics was announced in Johannesburg on Wednesday.

Confederation of African Athletics President Hamad Kalkaba said that Africa's top athletes have shown their potential at many an international event over the years but the time has now come for Africa's athletics infrastructure to be raised to the highest level in order for international Grand Prix style track and field meetings to be held on African soil.

Five Regional African Athletics Clubs consisting of five Regional Athletics Development Centres, an African track and field permit series and meetings involving Africa's best against foreign athletics powers, set to make
2005 the year of the African athletics renaissance.

The Regional African Athletics Track Clubs will be based in Dakar, Senegal, Abuja, Nigeria, Cairo, Egypt, Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, SA, with a view to develop the skills of athletics administrators working for African-based athletics federations.

Further, the administrators - to be advised by trained International Association of Athletics Federations officials - will be taught commercialisation, promotional, publicity and event management skills, in order for track and field meetings of the highest calibre to be hosted on the continent.

The African Athletics Development Centre will also be the platform for
coaches to upgrade or develop their coaching skills.
 
"Each of these Regional African Athletics Track Clubs will stage major
athletics events and be part of the new African Grand Prix Series, with Africa's best athletes to be contracted and paid to participate in these events," said Kalkaba.

Dakar, Senegal has been penciled in to host a major athletics meeting from
2005 to 2007, with Abuja, Nigera (2006-2007), Rabat, Morocco (2006-2007), Johannesburg, SA (2006-2007) and Nairobi, Kenya (2007) also set to share in the track and field hype that is set to take Africa by storm.

"The African Hall of Fame and African Athletics programme will be launched in Abuja, Nigeria on March 11 next year whereby African athletes who have achieved fame in the sport of athletics at world championship, Olympic or other top level events, will be honoured for their achievements," said Kalkaba, who added that Africa's top athletes will take on their mighty USA in test match action in Abuja on March 12-13.

"Africa's track and field stars will get their chance to match and beat the best of Europe in the second Test Match of 2005 on African soil, in Tanger, Morocco in September next year," added Kalkaba.

African Athletics Confederation Marketing Commission chairman Dan Ngerem - who is the president of the Nigerian Athletics Federation - said that this upliftment of African track and field has been long overdue and can be described as 'a breath of fresh air for current athletes and those jewels of the
future on the African continent."
 
"It is now up to the African Athletics Foundation and the regional administrators to prove to world athletics that the continent of Africa has the necessary organisational, event management and promotional skills, to put on track and field meetings of the highest quality hosted on the soil of Africa," said Ngerem.

In partnership with the newly-formed African Athletics Foundation, Grinaker Sponsorship Marketing, have called on the services of renowned brand strategists Ogilvy Africa, creative development and implementation of special events specialists VWV, legal firm Edward Nathan & Frieland, financial service management team KPMG, PR strategists Exposure Unlimited and the assessment skills of BMI.

All sponsors and suppliers to the African Athletics Foundation will serve on a board of trustees to ensure transparency and effective management of all of the Foundation's event and activities.

All sponsorship dealings for the above-mentioned events will be handled by the African Athletics Foundation, headed by Kalkaba, with Ngerem as vice president, Cameroonian David Ojong as secretary-general, and Clive Grinaker as treasurer.

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