Four members of Pirates Road Running went on a journey that was nothing short of epic – running 500km for a good cause.
The 500 Kays for Kids saw the men, with one or two more volunteers joining in on some stretches, run from Kimberley in the Northern Cape, to Johannesburg.
Pirates Road Running chairperson, David Case was joined by Thabang Mmolawa, Emmanuel Makhafola and Johan Botes for the 10-day run.
“The biggest highlight of the run was the people that we met along the way,” Case said. “South Africa is full of generous, caring and kind people who tried to help us in a multitude of ways.”
The group has raised R100 000 for Childline South Africa, a non-profit organisation that aims to protect children from all forms of violence and promote children’s rights.
The group is still raising money for the organisation and hopes to soon hand over R250 000. Their donations portal is available at www.500kaysforkids.co.za and they have a Facebook page called 500 Kays for Kids.
The group ran between cities and towns each day where they slept for the night. On some days the group would run as far as 56km and on other days they would only run 38km.
“Mentally the long distances are challenging when you realise that you’ve gone through a standard marathon distance and that it would still take you another couple of hours to reach the end. We also had wind to contend with plus trucks and other vehicles that we were sharing the roads with.”
Case said the main challenge was finding motivation each morning to take on another ultra-marathon distance run.
“For the most part all of us finished with some niggles and some pain yet the people we met along the way was such a rewarding aspect. The run was originally conceived as something for me to do before my 40th birthday in trying to use my ability to run for a good cause.”
This despite Case confessing he is not a very fast or fit runner.
“I don’t know if any of us would ever do it again or certainly not in a hurry but we would challenge other runners to try to use their running to improve society.”
Details: www.500kaysforkids.co.za
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