Hundreds brave extreme weather to raise funds for children’s homes
Organisers Bonnie Currin from Vincent and Jono Kruger from Beacon Bay joined forces to run a full 24 hours
More than 300 runners braved heat, lightning and thunder to raise over R50,000 for East London children’s homes in a 24hour Run for Hope event.
The 32°C humidity condensed to a downpour of 48mm, but athletes chose to run inside the marquee tent as the storm raged outside, with the Springbok-france clash accompanying them on a big screen.
Organisers Bonnie Currin from Vincent and Jono Kruger from Beacon Bay joined forces to run a full 24 hours to raise funds for Breath of Life, Greensleeves, Guardians of Hope and the King’s Children’s Home.
Forty-two children from the NPOS were there to enjoy the outdoors, play on the jumping castle and cheer on athletes.
“It was tough, my left toenail is coming off,” Kruger said.
“Eight of us did the full 24 hours with a minimum distance of 80km and maximum of 110km. We called ourselves the hopefuls, and were overwhelmed by the commitment.”
Sweltering heat hit the group at the Cove near Nahoon Dam, where runners kicked off on two circular 10km and 5km tracks at 8am on Saturday to finish at 8am on Sunday.
“Each children’s home has its own support network and we saw each of these come together — businesses set up gazebos and had relays going — every time you did a lap through the marquee tent you were met by cheering from the crowd. It was really festive.”
As the skies darkened, runners did laps around the tent, racking up about 50km.
Kruger said: “It was lots of turning, which can be tough on the knees, but we ran and walked over 50km through the night in the tent. There was plenty of lightning, so the medics called us in from the track, and we were like, now what? But these eight are some crazy people so lightning, thunder and torrential downpour wasn’t going to stop them.
“We were running in the tent and watching the rugby on 50inch TV screens. The Springboks’ loss was disheartening but we carried on walking.”
Currin said emergency personnel sponsored by Alderson Ambulance Services to cover the event were using an app to watch the thunderstorm swirl over the venue.
“It was amazing and extreme. Alderson called us off course twice because of how frequent the lightning was,” Currin said.
“By 6pm we were inside the marquee because of the rain.”
Currin started Run for Hope in 2020 to raise funds for Guardians of Hope by running a marathon in her garden during lockdown. “I ran around my garden a thousand times and to see these eight runners so committed to not giving up — we ran over 2,000 loops of that tent. It was truly because of their commitment.”
Currin said that apart from the donations collected in the form of entrance fees, each home would receive a large bag of donated baby items like nappies, formula and wet wipes.
“Runners are crazy people — someone came and pushed their baby in a pram around the track, and music by Dynamic Sounds kept us going.
“If it weren’t for them I don’t know if we would’ve finished. We were singing, people were jumping on tables and dancing!”