Ken Doherty, American track and field champion said the five Ss of sports training are stamina, speed, strength, skill and spirit but the greatest of these is spirit. Three average Joes recently proved they have running spirit.
York Scott, Jason Knoetze and Miguel Thomaz have embarked on a remarkable running journey from Pretoria to Cape Town to raise funds for Home of Hope, a charity that deals with children who have foetal alcohol spectrum disorders (FASD).
FASD is a term used to describe a range of permanent conditions that are brought on by alcohol exposure to the foetus during pregnancy, with foetal alcohol syndrome (FAS) being the most severe condition.
The three men’s 1 432km marathon spanning over 40 days started on 16 June and they expect to finish on 25 July. The trio has two support drivers making sure all goes well with them on the road, and occasionally ER24 escorts them in the towns in which they have ambulances.
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Their first stop was in Randfontein, which is York’s hometown. The Bluebottle Liquors Group supplied them with energy drinks and water for the road and set them up for their first overnight stay at Roly’s Place in Wilbotsdal.
They have also received sponsorships from Future Life who has given them nutritious breakfast supplies for their long journey.
“We’ve been wanting to do this for the past six years and mid last year everything started coming together. We wanted to make a difference but the question was for whom. We started with one runner and then these two other crazy guys (York and Miguel) joined me,” Jason said.
York explained that they are not professional runners, they are just average guys who want to make a difference. York is the only one of the three who has previous experience with marathons as he cycled to Cape Town from Gauteng and also ran down to Durban.
They trained for months before the big run to condition their bodies to take the beating South African roads dish out. The trio runs for a certain distance and when they can’t anymore they resort to walking. They don’t run a full day as they have breaks in between and they set aside time to sleep.
“We don’t want to burn out before we get to Cape Town so resting is extremely important to us on this journey,” York said.
To follow their journey or to donate reach via social media:
• Facebook – Running for Hope 2016
• Twitter – @RunForHope2016
• Instagram – @runningforhope2016
• YouTube – Running for Hope
• Website – www.runningforhope.co.za
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