Durban North runner laces up for Comrades
Jenna Challenor, who contracted Covid-19 in August last year, has been battling and fighting the often debilitating effects of Long Covid.
ULTRA distance runner and Durban North resident, Jenna Challenor recently finished ninth at this year’s Totalsports Two Oceans Marathon.
Her top 10 finish meant she won a gold medal in Cape Town, however, that achievement belies her long road to recovery after developing Long Covid symptoms last year.
Challenor, who contracted Covid-19 in August last year, has been battling and fighting the often debilitating effects of Long Covid.
She has now set her sights on running this year’s Comrades Marathon, for only the second time in her decorated career.
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In 2019, in her Comrades debut, she finished sixth and is hoping to better that result at this year’s marathon.
She recently chatted to Northglen News about her battle against Long Covid and her gradual return to road running, a sport she is fervently passionate about.
“The hardest journey through Long Covid has been battling fatigue and exhaustion with no time line, it is totally unknown. I contracted Covid-19 in August last year and while I wasn’t hospitalised, I was bedridden. They say it takes about seven to 10 days to fully recover but the effects of Covid took much longer than expected. I consulted a cardiologist who monitored me for a few days and along with my sports doctor who looks after me, Doctor Kevin Subban, we concluded I was suffering with Long Covid.
“Even a short jog down the road left me exhausted, my heart rate sky rocketed over 200, jogging at a slower pace than I’ve ever run and literally put me into the bed for the rest of the day after. For someone who runs upwards of 20 kilometres I just couldn’t understand what was happening. I wasn’t even able to do a quarter of what I would normally achieve during a week. Even as I tried to ease back into some sort of routine with running, it was just brutal. I spent time in the hyperbaric chamber at Prime at Moses Mabhida and worked on small goals and in time I began to turn the corner,” she explained.
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Challenor said the support from her family, her sponsors and running club, Murray & Roberts were instrumental in getting her race fit and ready.
“They have all been incredible. My family has been a pillar of strength and never given up on my comeback. My running club along with the Elite Athlete Development Programme (EADP) has backed me in my darkest days and financially supported me through it all which is incredible and enabled me to get the medical support I needed to get well again,” the mother of three said.
