SHARING the spirit of ‘Unogwaja’ to Rotarians earlier this month in Empangeni was expat Craig Wiseman, who now resides in Perth.
Verbally transported by Wiseman on a strenuous 11-day journey via a presentation, the Rotarians were introduced to the highs and lows of participating as a team member of the Unogwaja challenge.
‘The challenge was initiated to follow the footsteps of Comrades legend Phil Masterton-Smith, who was affectionately known as ‘Unogwaja’ which means ‘The Hare’ in isiZulu’ said Rotary Public Relations Officer, Rose Cyrus.
‘In 1933 Masterton-Smith could not afford the train fare from Cape Town to run the Comrades Marathon, so he cycled over 1700kms from Cape Town to Pietermaritzburg in 10 days, and on the 11th day he ran the gruelling Comrades Marathon and came in 10th position.
‘The Unogwaja Challenge involves the same route from Cape Town, arriving the day before Comrades, and the team then run the gruelling 90km ultra marathon, on jelly legs, one would guess.
‘This challenge has being done as a tribute, in addition to raising funds for the chosen non-profit organisations, as well as uniting all South Africans en-route,’ Cyrus said.
The challenge raised more than one million Rand, with R150 000 of this amount being through the efforts of this young man – Craig Wiseman, whose roots are well planted in Zululand soils as he is the grandson of Sylvia and the late Dave Stretton-Barry.
