The annual marathon jamboree organised in the Southwest capital of Cameroon, baptised as the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope, which is an excellent display of Cameroon's athleticism, sportsmanship, and cultural diversity, has once again received a twin appraisal.
On the one hand, the organisers, notably the athletic federation and the ministry of sports and physical education, have thundered praises on the successes of this year's edition.
And on the other hand, some social media opinions have leveraged in a crinkum-crankum manner a distant and contrary view as they concentrated and lambasted what they think are setbacks of particularly this year's edition and the editions of 2010 to date.
As a keen observer and writer, I couldn't help but conglomerate and pen down this mixture of opinions about this year's editions for your pleasure.
On the one hand majority of opinions have joined the Athletic Federation and the Minister of sports and physical education, Mr Motombi Emmanuel and Professor Narcise Mouelle Kombi respectively, to hold that; the event wasn't only a success but a complete display of the country's ability to host world class events that celebrates athleticism and cultural diversity.
The Minister's success statement was buttress with the 600 athletes who participated, the colourful and phantasmagoric animations that surrounded the Molyko Sport Complex, the Cultural diversity display and the absence of injury or casualty despite the security challenge plaguing this part of the country.
Though these examples defending the success of the event are factual and ardent, other observers are of the opinion that the aforementioned constitutes what the French speakers will say: "a déjà vu.".
They hold strongly on social media and in beer parlours that the highlighted successes, with the exception of success in maintaining security throughout the event, entail the routine aftermath stories of the competition.
To them, nothing has changed and this lack of change or innovation is contrary to the organisation of similar competitions at the international level where striking innovations are made to increase the beauty from previous competitions.
The main disturbing factor to these observations and notably Social media critics, stems from what they term ; Absence of publicity for the event.
A uniform acceptance of this purported absence or limitation of publicity raises the following questions ; (1) If the race is now a surprise one. (2) If there was a publicity budget for the competition, and (3) What Hope for the Winners of the Race?
While these questions flitted left and right, the urge to accost and apprise the authorities concerned so they can take an action that will meet the expectations of the people became inevitable.
It is worthy of note that the above quandaries could be summarised into two main worries: absence or limited publicity for such an event and the hope of the winners after the race.
This writer, after addressing this, will make an extension to some general issues pertaining to the race that need urgent attention.
Beginning with the absence or limited publicity, many referenced the previous editions where a week before the event, almost every TV and radio Station carried the announcement, bloggers poured their weights in making publicity for the event on their various platforms.
News Papers carried different articles about the expectations of the coming edition, local promoters who move with speakers in their vehicles particularly in Buea could not be neglected.
When this intense publicity was done, the rest was nothing but a large number of spectators forcing their way into the Molyko stadium while those with selling stands enjoyed rapid maximum profits.
As an extension; travel agencies, Hotels and Guest Houses got their own share of the benefits of the event as their rooms are always occupied before and during these period. The disadvantage which could easily be suppressed by the advantage is a Go Slow or Traffic.
Comparing the previous editions with this year's edition, they opined that they weren't informed of the occurrence of the competition a week before, as is usually the case, and that information about the event got to them only a day before. And to some who inhabit Buea, they claimed they noticed the steam of the competition only during the D-day.
With this absence or limitation of publicity for the event, they lament that it's a complete reduction of joy and excitement that usually accrues from the customary benefits.
Thus, the lack of publicity this year from bloggers, TV stations, radio, and newspapers grossly reduced the glory and euphoria of the race, as well as the benefits it brings to the people of Buea in particular and the Southwest in general.
Another school of thought hinted that it seems Cameroonians were taken by surprise about the race, or the race has now become a hidden one where preparations are done behind the scenes and the competition is made public only two days or a day before the event.
Even those who follow the yearly calendar of the race, due to the absence of publicity, gave up expecting the happening of the event.
If these allegations are true, I recommend the government always utilise media outlets to inform the populace a week or two before the event proper. This will go a long way in magnetising the characteristic conspicuousness and dividends of the competition.
Apart from the limited publicity, there's a general problem that has been raised by popular opinions; What hope for the winners after the competition?
I think the Mount Cameroon Race of Hope has been grossly prevented from its actual beauty, which is given the athletes the possibility to gain international recognition.
The factors that hinder such expected recognition include inadequate sponsorship and funding and limited financial support, which discourages international athletes of high quality from participating because they feel the 10,000,000 FRS CFA is too small for their participation due to expenses on flight tickets and other expenditures.
In order to attract some quality athletes of international weight, I suggest an increase in the sum to a reasonable amount that can be closer to cash prizes of international competitions. The second issue is the poor roads leading to Buea.
The road leading to Southwest is horrible and risky to car owners who prefer staying back in their various cities than destroy their cars with the rough road made up of threatening potholes.
The consequence of the poor roads is a gross limitations of spectators. And as time advances, the event is gradually becoming a Southwest race, whereas it is intended to be a national race. I highly recommend construction of the roads so as to ease accessibility to the town.
Also, Inconsistent Media Coverage; both Local and International Media Coverage has been consistently limited because it's very possible to think that since 1974 till now, we should be having major international media coverage from giant stations like CNN and BBC cover the event.
But unfortunately, we are still relying only on the National Radio and Television which is doing it's not enough best.
We can solve the above by engaging the state TV to a partnership deal to cover at their level and send to the international TV to broadcast. By so doing, our Athletes will be exposed to invitations to other competitions which can change their lives just from participation bonuses.
That's if they don't emerge winners. The necessity of an international media to broadcast the race springs from the static participation number of Athletes which has been 600 since 2023.
If we need to have more athletes especially those of international repute participate, we need to catapult the publicity to the international scene to attract them, and sponsors as well.
As an epilogue, to solve the above mentioned problems, the Athletic Federation and the Ministry of Sport and physical education should engage the following proposals.
(1) Construction of road networks leading to Buea. (2) Intensify publicity a week or two before the event proper. (3) International Media Partnership (4) Increase in the cash prizes.
If these can be done, then we can talk of bringing back the glory of mount Cameroon Race of Hope despite the security challenges and the winners will not go back to the farm but hope for an international competition invitation that can catapult them from zero to hero.
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Marks Abaiko, Secretary General Association of New Generation Author
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