Systemic Corruption at Comrades: Former Manager made Irregular Payments & Assaulted Comrades Legend

After Rowyn James was announced as one of the 21 nominees for the 7 vacant Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) Board positions, I received a tip off that, during his time as the Comrades Race Manager, James had made “secret” payments. The payments were made to Chris Lombard, a volunteer who was the finish line convenor, and were not sanctioned. Furthermore, Lombard was the seconder on James’ CMA Board nomination form.

READ MORE: Comrades Board nominees: A light at the end of the tunnel?

The source provided me with the names of 4 senior staff and stakeholders with whom I could verify that the illicit payments occurred. Three have confirmed that an irregular and unsanctioned 5-figure “Management Fee” was paid annually to Lombard. The fourth has read my messages but has not replied. One of the sources did explain that the payment would ‘need to have been signed off’ but could not explain the ‘serious irregularity’ of a volunteer being paid.

It is clear that uncovering the payments to Lombard after James’ departure was a surprise to Comrades senior leadership and the leak of this information is causing some embarrassment.

Much of the ‘hands on work’ for organising the world’s largest ultra marathon is done by the Race Organising Committee (ROC), a group of unpaid volunteers many of whom have been involved with Comrades for decades. Lombard was part of the ROC volunteers but resigned his position after James accepted a voluntary severance package and resigned following the cutoff and safety debacles at the 2023 event.

READ MORE: Where did all the runners go? The Comrades cutoff debacle.

READ MORE: The Nightmare on Epworth Street (Safety negligence at Comrades breaks bones and shatters dreams)

I asked a couple of my ROC contacts to confirm that they were unpaid volunteers and, “If one of the ROC volunteers was paid would that be highly irregular?” They both replied immediately confirming that ROC volunteers are unpaid. Said one, “We are not paid at all. Yes, if they paid someone on the ROC it would be highly irregular.” I have also confirmed with three former CMA Chairs that volunteers do not get paid and to do so would be against protocol and highly irregular.

Whilst James has not replied to my questions, I did hear via ‘back channels’ that James had made contact with Les Burnard claiming that the “payments to Lombard were approved at a Board meeting in 2018.” Cheryl Winn was the CMA Chair in 2018 so I gave her a call this afternoon. Winn “100% categorically denies” that any approval to pay Chris Lombard was given whilst she was Chair. She also confirmed that she had checked all Board minutes from 2018 and paying Lombard was never discussed.

Is this one lie too many for Rowyn James? Based on this easily verifiable corrupt payment, it remains to be seen whether James will be allowed to stand in the CMA Board election at the AGM on 30 November. The CMA has been plagued by well-founded accusations of corruption, maladministration and incompetence amongst staff and Board members after the 2024 event.

READ MORE: Corruption, Maladministration & Incompetence: A Comrades Charge Sheet

Further evidence of systemic corruption within Comrades House adds weight to the argument that Ann Ashworth was ‘worked out of the system’ and dismissed from her short but very successful tenure as Race and Operations Manager because she was trying to clean shop and put controls in place to stop the rampant bad practices, unprofessionalism and dishonesty. Ashworth, the sole change to the Comrades staff after the 2023 disaster, was able to bring in R12 million in new sponsorships and received universal praise after the event. A coherent reason for her contract being cancelled has yet to be provided by the CMA.

READ MORE: Has the Comrades Marathon been Captured (and why Ann Ashworth was fired)

I received a second tipoff that I should chat to Comrades legend Vic Boston who “went so far as to lay a formal charge of assault against Rowyn James with the SAPS in 2021.”

Boston relayed the incident to me which stems from 100^th anniversary commemoration, comprising a number of events that several former winners and legends were invited to in May 2021. At the time Boston had run 43 consecutive Comrades and was the youngest runner to be awarded the coveted Green Number (for 10 finishes). He is now third on the list for most Comrades run with 46 finishes (behind Barry Holland and Louis Massyn who have 49 medals).

Boston is an authentic old school gentleman and does not do any technology other than WhatsApp. Comrades did not even have an email for him but they did have his phone number. Boston recalls, “On the 12^th of May in the morning I got a call from the Comrades Museum curator, Roxanne Thomas.  Roxanne told me, ‘We’re throwing a special party for the 100^th centenary and we’d like you to take part.’ Boston was thrilled and said, “Thank you, I’d love to be there – I’m coming for sure!” He added that Thomas asked him for his clothes size for the special 1921 replica running gear that would be used for the symbolic 2.2km re-enactment ‘Tribute Run’ from the Pietermaritzburg City Hall to Comrades House.

Boston booked his flights and phoned Thomas a few days beforehand to confirm his arrival time. He also said that another member of staff, Kyle Govender (then the IT Manager) with whom he was friendly, had phoned him to say that he was thrilled that Boston would be coming to the event.

However, when Boston arrived at Comrades House he was met with a frosty reception from Rowyn James. Boston recalled, “Rowyn walked up to me aggressively – and sternly said in front of everyone, ‘Come into my office. I want to talk to you for a sec.’”

Once inside James’ office Boston was told, “You will not be part of the run because we don’t have your name on the list.” Boston obviously protested his case, he’d confirmed his attendance, was excited to be part of the event and was looking forward to running with his fellow legends. James got more belligerent and told him, “You can’t run. You can only come to the lunch and can only be a spectator.”

James’ then got verbally abusive and physically violent, “Rowyn James lost his temper and started screaming and ranting, repeatedly shouting, ‘Get out of this office. Get out of this building!’” James then stood up and pushed Boston, who was over 60 years old at the time, violently enough that Boston laid a charge of assault at the local police station.

Cheryl Winn (then Comrades Chairperson) and Keletso Totlhanyo (then Comrades General Manager) intervened and promised Boston that he would be able to run and organised his 1921 replica running kit. They later also refunded Boston’s flight expenses because of James’ actions.

However, James was not done. On the morning of the run he tried to stop Boston from running again, threatening him with arrest if he took part, “I will get the police to pull you off the road.” When James called out each participant’s name outside City Hall before starting the run he deliberately left out Boston’s name. After saying “What about me?”, Barry Holland defused the situation by loudly shouting, “Vic Boston!” The run was followed by a gala lunch where, “Rowyn sulked the whole time and refused to greet me.”

Once back in Johannesburg, Boston received a phone call from Paul Hayes, Comrades’ external legal counsel, to ‘get the whole story’. On a subsequent call, Boston was told, “We’ve sat Rowyn down and talked to him. He [James] wants to apologise but he doesn’t know how to.” Boston said that a simple phone call would do the trick, “He can phone me any time”. Sadly, Boston has yet to receive any apology from James.

This kind of incident was typical during the James era. A source who has been integrally involved with Comrades for many years said, “The drama and havoc that CMA was prepared to put up with from Rowyn James, treat him with kid gloves, give him a glorious sendoff and payout, compared with how Ann [Ashworth] was treated is sickening and misogynist.”

The corrupt, the inept and the misogynistic have already ensured the permanent removal of Ann Ashworth from Comrades despite her rejuvenating the event and producing what most consider to be the best organised Comrades Marathon in decades. Their nefarious practices have ensured that those Board members with a conscience have resigned. All that remains are three elected Board members in good standing (although two of these have massive corruption clouds hanging over their heads), one elected Board member not in good standing (presumably because he failed to pay his R100 CMA membership dues) and a handful of ‘the most malleable sycophants’ who’ve been coopted onto the Board by the compromised (some of whom have neither run nor volunteered at Comrades and are not even CMA members).

With 7 Board memberships up for election at the CMA AGM, the 30th of November is likely to prove a watershed moment for the Comrades Marathon. Either the badly compromised interim Board will cement their tentacles into the Comrades treasure chest or we’ll see a new ‘clean slate’ Board who will put the interests of runners and the greatest ultra marathon on the planet ahead of their own greed and self-interest. It should be a simple choice.

Questions were sent to Rowyn James on Saturday 9 November to provide right of reply. The message was read but not responded to. Follow-up questions were sent today but not replied to either at the time of writing.

Chris Lombard was also approached for comment via a mobile number I was given but no response has been received at the time of writing.

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