Humorous Anecdotes, Observations & Accounts of Marathon Running & Agile Adventures.
Perceptions that those in Comrades House live in a parallel universe will only be exacerbated after a rather bizarre press conference held on Monday morning. Apparently, the intention was to reinstill confidence in a severely compromised CMA Board rocked by a number of dismissals and resignations. However, instead of ‘steadying the ship’ most viewers left concluding that the CMA is now far further up the creek without a paddle.
It is no secret that relations between the former Comrades Race & Operations Manager (ROM), Ann Ashworth, and the Marketing & Communications Manager, Delaine Cools, were frosty at best and openly hostile at worst before, during and after the 2024 edition of the race.
The previous article in this series detailed the conjecture and supporting evidence that Cools had been promised the ROM (or General Manager) job and went out of her way to make Ashworth’s tenure difficult. In some circumstances, this appears to have escalated to outright sabotage.
Continue reading “Cools & the Gang – Greatest Hits (A Comrades Communication Breakdown)”
This is a part of a series of articles on how Comrades was captured and why Ann Ashworth was fired. Despite support from the Chair, Vice Chair and Tier 1 sponsors, Ashworth’s contract extension was rejected at a Board meeting in June and her contract was ‘terminated with immediate effect.’ Ashworth believes that there were three main reasons leading to the Board firing her, this is the third.
Whilst reasons 1 and 2 are indisputable chains of events and facts, reason 3 does involve some conjecture (albeit with plenty of substance).
The two points of conjecture are that:
This is a part of a series of articles on how Comrades was captured and why Ann Ashworth was fired. Despite support from the Chair, Vice Chair and Tier 1 sponsors, Ashworth’s contract extension was rejected at a Board meeting in June and her contract was ‘terminated with immediate effect.’ Ashworth believes that there were three main reasons leading to the Board firing her, this is the first.
After noticing that Board member Isaac Ngwenya would leave functions and events carrying armloads of beverages (sometimes even making return trips to his car) and that the Comrades House bar fridges were having to be restocked far more frequently than “reasonable usage” would dictate, Ann Ashworth (Comrades Race and Operations Manager), requested permission to put locks on the fridges.
Continue reading “Why Ashworth was Fired Part I: Kleptomania at Comrades House”