1 850 km on foot in 32 days

A TEAM of athletes and cyclists, led by Samuel “Samstar” Ntsanwisi (27), successfully completed a 1 850 km ultra-marathon from parliament in Cape Town to Nkowankowa Stadium in 32 days.

The participants arrived in Tzaneen from Cape Town last Saturday, much to the admiration of their supporters.

The Nkowankowa born Ntsanwisi said the purpose of what he called “this crazy challenge” was to raise awareness about the abuse of women and children. “We undertook the challenge in support of the 16 days of activism for no violence against women and children,” he said.

Ntsanwisi, who is a video technology graduate, said he left Cape Town on October 30 with fellow athletes, Ben Ndlovu and Makgobe Masufi, and three cyclists.

“We were joined by three other athletes in Johannesburg in the middle of November,” Ntsanwisi said.

A clearly exhausted Ntsanwisi said to avoid running in the heat, they woke up at 01:00 each morning and ran an average of 60 km a day.

“With this initiative, we also want to inspire young people to reach their goals, raise awareness about HIV/aids and raise funds for two non-profit organisations that work with the youth in Greater Tzaneen: Bjatladi Youth Development and Vantshwa Va Xivono,” he said.

He added that they had managed to raise some funds although it was not the amount they had hoped for.

Ntsanwisi and his group were officially welcomed back to Tzaneen and congratulated by the acting mayor, Dodo Mushwana, before runing to Muhlaba Cross and then on to Nkowankowa Stadium where a crowd had gathered to welcome them.

This was not the first time Ntsanwisi and his group embarked on this challenge. They started in 2009 by running 117 km from Polokwane to Nkowankowa Stadium.

In 2010 Ntsanwisi ran 445 km from Ellis Park in Johannesburg to Nkowankowa Stadium, in 2011 they ran 1 010 km from Durban to Nkowankowa Stadium, and in 2012 they ran 107 km from Nkowankowa to Giyani.