The HeronBridge Preparatory School family led a school-wide virtual inter-house run on Mandela Day, with the aim to run 948 kilometres, the distance from HeronBridge College to Mvezo, where Nelson Mandela was born.
Head of HeronBridge Prep sport Martin Nel explained that each year the preparatory school hosts an inter-house cross-country event around the school campus and sports field. This year, Nel led the Madiba Edition to lift the spirits and unite the HeronBridge community following their separation during lockdown by hosting the first, school-wide, virtual inter-house event.
Nel said that 854 people registered for the event with 539 results uploaded, including learners, parents, siblings and even pets.Each participant had the option of running 1km, 3km or 5km or a combination of the three. The event began at 8am and ended at 10.30am, ensuring that it was run in the spirit of togetherness.
“As a community, we took to the streets dressed in our house colours all within the time frame, and participants were encouraged to upload photos and videos that were then shared on Facebook and WhatsApp to encourage and challenge peers and competing houses,” said Nel.
Once participants completed the run, they uploaded a ‘kilometres covered’ selfie to the school’s results platform.Regular updates were also published on Facebook and various internal communications platforms to keep the community informed of the distance covered and which house was in the lead. The school community exceeded all expectations, covering a distance of 2 183.64km.
Turaco (green) house won the event.HeronBridge College and Preparatory also participated in a number of activities leading up to Mandela Day to care for those in need.The high school was challenged to run 6km a day for 10 days leading up to Mandela Day, donating R1 for every kilometre run, aiming to reach a total of R67 each for Rise Against Hunger.The preparatory school had the option of participating in any of three activities for Mandela Day.
The first option was to donate towards food parcels for a community living on a plot on Beyers Naudé Drive in Muldersdrift.The second option was to collect and fill jars with rice, lentils, soup powder and soup mix to provide warm meals for those struggling at this time. The jars were created in support of the Community Angels South Africa. They collected a total of 500 jars.The third option was to knit squares to create blankets for those in need.
