'We are still on the lookout for someone' - Ngcobo talks new board as CMA continues its search for a new Race Director

Since electing nine new members to the board of the Comrades Marathon Association last November, the association has now added a new members who have been co-opted to serve. 49-time Comrades finisher Barry Holland, who was the first person to achieve that amazing feat of annual endurance has been brought in together with Lené Swart. Holland is no stranger to the South African road running community whose expertise go beyond being a legendary Comrades runner. CMA Chairperson Mqondisi Ngcobo explains. 

"Firstly, let's me start by looking at the Comrades constitution. According to it, after the nine board members have been elected, they are allowed to add co-opted members to it. The main reason for this rule is for the members to look at the skills gaps which need to be filled within the board. Barry Holland for instance, will bring a lot of experience in terms of organizing the races as he is the race director of the Balwin Sport Dolphin Coast Marathon and the Drakensberg Marathon, "

Meanwhile Ngcobo says the addition of Swart will be crucial as she will assist the CMA to manage their finances with care. Swart brings fourteen years of experience as a professional Chartered Accountant. She is also a four-time Comrades finisher and was involved with Team Massmart, a women's only running team, headed by 2018 Comrades champion Ann Ashworth. 

"If you can remember when the new board was elected, we didn't have a Chartered Accountant. By looking at our organization that makes over 50 million, it is crucial to have someone to look after our funds properly. It wasn't an easy process as we had to go through lot of CV's in order to get the right person . I'm glad we have find a good candidate to look after our funds and the good thing is that she has also run the race before."

Furthermore, Ngcobo says the appointment of Alain Dalais as the CMA General Manager at the end of January (27 January), came at the right time as the association needed someone to run office on a day-to-day basis. Dalais has been Acting Race and Operations Manager since July 2024 when Ann Ashworth vacated the position. With Dalais now officially employed as the organisation's general manager, Ngcobo adds that the CMA is still looking to fill race director role in the future. 

"We had to look at many factors before deciding on this. In the past we had a general manager role, which dealt with the operations of the association. But we decided to split the race organisation responsibilities and the general organisational operations because we felt it was hard to handle the two at the same time. We decided to look within the organisation and appointed Alain, as the general manager. He is a good candidate since he has been acting and has been with the association a long time. But we are still on the look out for someone to fill the race directing capacity in the near future."