‘Virtual race’ by Volare Sports an innovative option to beat Covid-19 lockdown

Felix Kandie displays his finishing time after completing the special ‘CoronaRun Half Marathon' race on April 4, 2020. He finished second. PHOTO | VOLARE SPORT |

What you need to know:

  • Just over a week ago, World Athletics President Seb Coe threw down the gauntlet by saying the only way forward for the sport, post-coronavirus, is innovation.
  • Volare Sports have picked up the challenge and their example ought to be emulated across the board and taken forward through the introduction of prize money for the top performers in these ‘virtual races’ to aid our athletes whose revenue streams have been dealt a fatal blow by Covid-19.

‘Virual race’ organised by Volare Sports is an innovative option to beat Covid-19 lockdown.

Globally, athletes are struggling to stay focused in the wake of an unprecedented stoppage in action caused by the Covid-19 pandemic.

And with hundreds of freelance sports journalists also having consequently lost a living as global sport remains on hold, innovation seems to be the best way out of this devastating impasse.

Sports websites continue to struggle for content, with World Athletics, for instance, conjuring up furniture such as ‘geography quizzes’ and ‘recipes for healthy cakes’ to retain eyeballs.

Locally, what caught my eye was a special half marathon competition organised last weekend across the Kenyan highlands.

Yes, indeed, there’s top flight competition still going on for elite runners!

However, the difference is that - in compliance with directives from public health officials - the athletes ran in isolation.

Dubbed the ‘CoronaRun Half Marathon,’ the race concept was developed by Dutch elite athlete management company, Volare Sports, and involved over two dozen runners under their stable.

They competed in a half marathon race that started countrywide at 8am last Saturday, with each athlete racing individually around his or her home area in compliance with government directives against group interaction.

Triumphant Fancy Chemutai displays her winning time after completing the special ‘CoronaRun Half Marathon' race on April 4, 2020). PHOTO | VOLARE SPORT |

The runners timed themselves and, via the GPS system, clocked their finishing times with Volare Sport’s headquarters in Voorthuizen, The Netherlands.

Running in Embu, veteran 41-year-old Edwin Kirwa won the men’s race in one hour, one minute and 52 seconds, beating Felix Kandie (1:03:31) - who elected to run on the challenging Iten-Kaptagat road - to second place.

In the women’s division, running in Kericho, Fancy Chemutai clocked 1:10:05 to finish ahead of Honolulu and Los Angles Marathon champion Margaret Wangari (1:15:28) with Gladys Jerono (1:15:43) third.

Wangari raced in Ngong while Jerono picked her course at Kericho.

Of course, these excellent times could have been much faster had the athletes been competing on flat, sea-level European courses. They were pretty decent times though, considering they were clocked on challenging courses largely at high altitude, from Iten to Kapkitony, Kericho, Letein, Ngong, Kapsabet, Kaptagat all the way to Embu.

“The idea of organising the CoronaRun Half Marathon for Volare Sports athletes came around two weeks ago,” Hannah Biwott-van de Veen of Volare Sports explained to me.

“On March 21, we informed the athletes of the idea and most of them responded very positively. As a management, we wanted to stimulate the athletes to keep training and keep their focus after all races having being cancelled.

“All of them were disappointed, and even frustrated, that the coronavirus is spoiling their chances of winning races and running personal best times.

“We agreed on April 4, and 8:00am, as the date and time when the athletes should start their race.

Albert Korir displays his finishing time after completing the special ‘CoronaRun Half Marathon on April 4, 2020). PHOTO | VOLARE SPORT |

“We informed them well ahead of time that they should comply with the rules from the government concerning the coronavirus, in the case of athletes that they should train alone, and so they also had to also race alone,” Biwott-van de Veen added.

She further explained that the race concept was also meant to give the athletes an opportunity to compete as though in a real race which is usually followed by a period of recovery “and a new focus and build up towards the next race.”

The argument behind Volare Sports’ timing of the race was also based on the premise that April is traditionally one of the busiest months on the global road running circuit.

The only thing lacking in such innovative racing is seeing these athletes win their races on global platforms and interact with their coaches and management, otherwise it helps keep them in top shape under the circumstances.

“The closeness we always have with the athletes is what we tried to realise again. Despite everyone being far away from each other, running alone, the feeling of being together as a team was really there,” observed Biwott-van de Veen.

The race was a welcome relief for the athletes who were starved of quality competition.

“This race has enabled me to know if I was on the right training schedule towards Boston Marathon which was to take place on 20th of this month,” observed Kandie after Saturday’s run.

“I have gotten my answers from this race and I feel more motivated… At first it looked as if it’s going to be tough to run without other competitors.

“But I have found more confidence through this race and now I believe that in whatever you want to achieve, despite the challenges ahead, can be eventually achieved if you work on it.

“I'm satisfied that I have raced this month and I can count that I have ran my race of this season and I have beaten Covid-19.”

The take-home for Albert Korir, who was second in last year’s New York Marathon, is that teamwork is always the best as it’s hard to run as an individual.

Meanwhile, Wangari saw the virtual race as a test of one’s mental character.

“It was competitive knowing I was competing with other competitors I could not see. It was mentally more tough than physically.

“When many athletes compete together, the physical aspect comes first and mental follows. Now it was the other way around. I learnt a lot!”

With athletes and sports management companies losing huge revenues as the coronavirus pandemic continues to bite, thinking outside the box is the only way out of the melee.

It’s certainly never going to be business as usual.

“We plan to organise similar races for our athletes in Europe,” Volare Sports’ director Gerard van de Veen chipped in.

“The coronavirus situation will take a long time to settle down and, definitely, these special races help.”

Just over a week ago, World Athletics President Seb Coe threw down the gauntlet by saying the only way forward for the sport, post-coronavirus, is innovation.

Volare Sports have picked up the challenge and their example ought to be emulated across the board and taken forward through the introduction of prize money for the top performers in these ‘virtual races’ to aid our athletes whose revenue streams have been dealt a fatal blow by Covid-19.

With advancing technology, this should be a no-brainer!

The global pandemic is indeed more than a slap in the face of the athletes’ struggle to make ends meet.

It’s more of a knee in the groin, and has taught us to think well outside the box, especially with President Uhuru Kenyatta’s directive yesterday having scooped a tidy sum out of the National Sports, Arts and Social Development Fund to cushion performing artistes, but not athletes.

Stay safe!

Makori is the Editor (Sports) at Nation Media Group. [email protected]