IAAF: Event awareness affected by limited, delayed funding

KAMPALA.

Limited and late is how the funds meant for marketing the IAAF World Cross Country Championships came in, according to David Ntege, the man who was entrusted with promoting the showpiece on the Local Organising Committee (LOC).

“The money supposed to facilitate the marketing process should have come in like two years ago but it only arrived in February,” Ntege explained to SCORE the limited coverage and knowledge about the event to the lay man.

He also admits that revising the original budget from Shs8b to Shs6.4b contributed to the limited public awareness of the attraction that takes place at Kololo tomorrow. “The initial budget was reduced because of limited funds and it affected how well we were to market the championships. It restricted coverage,” he added.

Ntege also thinks the distinctiveness of the event has also played a role in the lack of enough response from the public despite putting in effort to sell the idea.

“It is a unique event. It is not football whereby people are already interested. A few people find athletics really attractive,” he enlightened pointing out how the local population is football crazy and a bit unconcerned when it comes to athletics. “The media has to also help us continue calling on the masses to show up.”