Run Walk For Life Toti athlete, Lizette Botha (51) is hard at work, training to break her record of running 161km in 24 hours, in her bid to raise funds for a young Toti cancer sufferer.
The long-distance runner took it upon herself to tackle the triple challenge – Comrades Marathon, Longest Day and 100 Miler – to raise funds for 19-month-old Emma de Vries.
This year’s Comrades Marathon of about 90km from Pietermaritzburg to Durban took place in berg wind conditions and Lizette completed it in a time of 10.41.
At the Longest Day, she ran 12 hours around a soccer pitch at Collegians Club in Pietermaritzburg.
To date she has raised R15,000.
Lizette will continue her fundraising quest on 19 and 20 September when she runs the 100 Miler (161km), 24 hours around a track in Pietermaritzburg. This is her fourth attempt at the event, which she has completed twice before.
“I’m scared, very scared,” she said. “Training has been going good.”
Lizette was not aware that runners can continue after they have completed the 161km target, as long as there is still time left on the clock. “This year my goal is to run 170km. It is a personal challenge. I’m really going to try hard. The first time I did the 100 Miler, I couldn’t complete it.”
This will be the last event Lizette runs under the banner of RWFL Toti, as her and her husband, Jan move to Johannesburg at the end of September.
The unbelievable part of her feat is once she has completed the Longest Day at 7pm on Saturday, 20 September, she will rest for only an hour on the drive from Pietermaritzburg to Toti, before completing about 70km over the next 10 hours at the Cansa Relay For Life event at Kingsway High School.
“I will alternate walking and running for one hour from between 8.30pm and 5am,” she said. “My goal is to complete 210km from the start of the Longest Day at 7pm on Friday, 19 September to the end of the relay at 5am on Sunday, 21 September.”
Companies, families and schools are urged to support Lizette by pledging money towards this cause. Sponsor her per kilometre or make a donation. Call Jan on 082-290-4025.
