Takkies will do the talking at this year’s Sarens Edenvale Marathon on March 9, when runners take to the streets with the belief that everyone can make a difference in the life of someone less fortunate.
Building on the success of last year, the theme for this year’s event will be community upliftment.
The Sarens Group is a recognized worldwide leader in heavy lifting and engineered transport.
Proceeds from last year’s marathon were donated to Reach for a Dream, Little Eden and KidneyBeanz.
Part of the community upliftment programme of the Rand Road Warriors inspires children to get involved in running.
With this principal in mind, Sarens and the Rand Road Warriors sponsored two bursaries for the high school and primary school, which brought in the most entries for the fun run.
The Bursaries were won by Holy Rosary High School and Eastleigh Primary School.
Holy Rosary School in turn donated its bursary to the school’s Phumelela Outreach Programme.
The programme was founded two years ago and is aimed at improving the education and prospects of pupils who have found themselves in difficult circumstances.
Every Saturday morning, approximately 65 enthusiastic students from grades 8 to 10, who originally attended the Ekurhuleni Primary School, arrive at Holy Rosary School for extra tuition in Maths, English and other subjects.
The money raised at the Fun Run was put towards catering for meals and funding excursions for the pupils to broaden their outlook, and make learning enjoyable.
This year to further uplift the community, the Sarens Edenvale Marathon teamed up with Tiles4Change as well as KidneyBeanz.
Together the two organisations will man the children’s play area for the day while parents enjoy the marathon, half marathon or fun run.
Money raised from entrance fees at the play area will be divided between Tiles4Change and KidneyBeanz.
KidneyBeanz supports children with life threatening kidney diseases while Tiles4Change aims to rid Edenvale’s schools of drugs, while providing children with alternative options to have a good time.
“We want to see children actively taking part in events in the community. We want to see them running in the Sarens Edenvale fun run and being the change we want to see in Edenvale,” said the co-founder of Tiles4Change and owner of Karaglen SuperSpar, Harry Karamichael.
He added that Tiles4Change was proud to be associated with the marathon.
“We look forward to many more joint ventures with the Edenvale Rand Road Warriors to encourage our youth to get off drugs and get active,” Mr Karamichael said.
Residents are invited to join in the fun on March 9.
There are prizes up for grabs in the lucky draw for which the first prize is a R15 000 mountain bike sponsored by Ridgeway Cycles and Ridgeway Honda. The second prize is a weekend away at Seokama Lodge sponsored by Glass and Brass Repair.
The Sarens Edenvale Marathon and half marathon will kick off from Edenvale High School from 6am with the fun run starting at 6.30am.
Late entries to the event will be accepted at Edenvale High School on March 7 from 2pm to 5pm, March 8 from 10am to 3pm and March 9 from 4am.
Late entries on March 9 will be cut off at 6am for marathon and half marathon runners and at 6.15am for fun runners.
