Like a lame duck, Botswana Athletics Association (BAA) sits and watches helplessly as marathons continue to mushroom around the country. Almost in each of the country�s districts, there is a marathon being run. Of these, only a few are regulated by the BAA. The majority of others are not regulated. While the emergence of marathons should be a good development for the growth of athletics, there is also a rising concern. The majority of these marathons are just cash cows. The proceeds are meant to line up the pockets of organisers. This development has left the BAA in a spot of bother. �There are many marathons sprouting everywhere and this is a concern as some are not regulated by BAA. Some are qualifiers like the Diacore Gaborone Marathon while others are not and they put athletes and the association in a tight spot,� BAA vice president, Oabona Theetso says. As much as the BAA wishes to run a rule over the marathons, it seems unable to regulate them. Most of these marathons purport to be for charitable causes. Organisers tend to state that they are hosting the marathon to raise awareness of some sort, help the unprivileged members of society or any charity case. This leaves the association in a difficult position to say no to such requests. �These marathons in their formation are made for money and we realised that marathon organisers have found an easy way to make money. There is the registration money and also price money, this price money can be raised by a few people registering while the big chunk of money remains with organisers,� the BAA vice president acknowledges. Not surprisingly, while most of these marathons are crowd pullers, the organisers do not give back to the community. In cases where they do, most do not do it according to the promises they made. Another major concern is that as more marathons come into existence, they are now too staggered and clustered. This puts pressure on athletes as they compete continuously without rest. �It is a sad reality mostly for our athletes as they enter all these marathons to make money and they fail to rest their bodies,� Theetso says. �Starting from next year, we are planning on regulating them. We should have at least two marathons per quarter. We cannot have four marathons each quarter of the year, they are just too many.� While the BAA contemplates regulating, they also understand they have to be cautious. Some of the marathons are established by recreational clubs as a means to encourage healthy lifestyles. This also makes it hard to stop them. However, the association knows it has to put its foot down and control them at the end of the day.