Ballito’s future in big events

Enthusiastic business people gathered over a scrumptious chicken curry last Thursday, July 9 to discuss the roll of big events in keeping the Dolphin Coast’s economic wheels turning.

Canelands Beach Club and Spa’s spectacular 180 degree sea views set the stage for a relaxed afternoon of networking and sharing of good food and wine.

Ballito Pro event coordinator and organiser for the last seven years, Collette Bundy and Deloitte Challenge director and Comrades legend, Barry Holland talked about the role these two events play in the local economy and how local businesses and the community could benefit from future editions of both events.

Holland said since the cancellation of the Indian Ocean Marathon, there has been no great stand-out race in the area and the Deloitte Challenge has filled this void.

“Running down the coastline in May is a winner,” he said.

With Deloitte having committed for five years and with the event to be expanded in 2016 to include four running races (full marathon, half marathon, 10km and 5km), two biking races (road race and new mountain bike race from Holla Trails to Kings Park Stadium) and a surf ski race from Clarke Bay to Durban, organisers are building an event that is unique in the world.

It has also turned into a huge opportunity for tourism, including accommodation, restaurants and transport services and everybody must maximise local and international marketing opportunities.

“The Deloitte Challenge 42.2km marathon is also the last qualifier for the Comrades Marathon which makes it extremely popular with athletes who qualify late for the Comrades so that they can get a better seeding when they are at their fittest,” said Holland. It also gives the lucrative Gauteng market an excuse to travel to warmer shores.

With his extensive international connections, Holland hopes to twin the Deloitte Challenge marathon with the Sydney and London marathons to promote bidirectional international participation. He said leveraging South Africa’s poor exchange rate would work magic.

Talking about international participation, Collette Bundy said an estimated 160 000 people visited the region during the Ballito Pro week and the international focus of the event has a domino-effect all year round. She said the event was a platform for social responsibility programs and offered long-term self-sustaining opportunities for local businesses.

The combination of the international sports event with music concerts, beach recreation, retail area and the food and wine festival, shows the world what we have to offer at any point in time,” said Bundy.

She said just by hosting the Ballito Pro, local businesses automatically got international marketing because of the distribution of the local database to the World Surfing League (WSL).

However, Bundy also said people must use social media to market themselves and not wait for others to do it for them.

“We decided to make 5FM the media partner for a national footprint and to get people to stay for the week,” said Bundy.

She said, considering how losing their events economically hurt Jeffrey’s Bay (Billabong Pro) and Durban (Mr Price Pro), it was crucial that Ballito held on to the the Ballito Pro.

“Conditions, services, quality of hospitality, safety and involvement of the local municipality to a large extent determines if a venue gets to keep its event.”

While Durban very “coincidentally” hosted a high profile “50 years of surfing in Durban” event on Friday, July 3 (during the Ballito Pro) an exclusivity clause has been signed with the WSL that prevent any other WSL event in Durban coinciding with the Ballito Pro.

The Ballito Pro is the Ballito area’s only international event while Durban has many.

Addressing questions over water and electricity usage during the Ballito Pro, Bundy said most of the event ran on generators and a water awareness campaign aimed at the WSL and visitors was also run during the Ballito Pro. The campaign involved Sembcorp Siza Water and Bundy said she even encouraged visitors to drink bottled water rather than tap water.