Joburg runs pink for Women’s Day

Runners painted Joburg pink for the 16th time at the Totalsports Women’s Race, which was filled with as much excitement as ever before.

A whopping 17 500 runners came through on Women’s Day, 9 August, to run in the 5km and 10km events starting at the Mary Fitzgerald Square in Newtown, and winding through the city like a long pink worm, before finishing back at the square.

The race was in aid of PinkDrive, the non-profit organisation which aims to improve breast cancer awareness and provide free services to the medically uninsured.

“We are doing this for our grandma, Rama, who died of breast cancer. We are running for her,” said Khushbu Chhotubhai, running with her sister, Henna.

Despite the importance of the cause, the atmosphere was high-spirited as music pumped loudly and drivers hooted in support of the runners as they passed.

“If I could say anything to women it would be ‘don’t look outside for validation. Women must affirm themselves. They are beautiful,’ ” said Sanda Gcadinja, who ran with friends.

“Women should be strong, believe in themselves and be confident,” said Fetsi Hlase, running with her family.

After winning the Spar Women’s Race Pretoria on 5 August, Irvette van Zyl won the Totalsports 5km event in 00:34:09.

“I didn’t really have a plan today, I just wanted to run fast,” she said afterwards. “Although I led from the start, I knew that the other runners weren’t far behind so I couldn’t slack down. The route wasn’t fast and flat as expected, but the vibe was great and the event was well organised.”

Also read: Pink and loud Joburg 

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