Women’s challenger strides out in style
LORRAINE resident Jenna Hills will have a more comfortable run in next month’s SPAR Women’s Challenge after taking home a pair of tekkies in the “I entered because” online competition.
Hills’s feel-good comment on the event’s Facebook page on why she is taking part in the May 6 event helped her win running shoes worth R1 500, courtesy of Action Sports in Summerstrand.
She said she entered the SPAR Women’s Challenge because she was told by her doctor that her weight and blood pressure were a possible danger to her health. For the last few months, I have been eating healthily and I decided to step it up a notch and start running and enter a race,” Hills said.
“And what better race than the most beautiful race in the world?
“The SPAR Women’s Challenge was the first one I have ever entered and I wanted to do it again because of the atmosphere and the sense of togetherness it brings to the city.
“Right now, as South Africans, we need positivity and a sense of togetherness more than ever,” she said.
“We need to embrace all cultures, races and colours, and the race shows we are all together working towards the finish.”
Hills, 30, entered her first SPAR Women’s Challenge about six years ago and found that she enjoyed it. She has struggled with her weight and, after suffering from health issues recently, decided to get up and moving.
She said she preferred exercise to diets, pills or the latest fad.
“After I took part in my first SPAR Women’s Challenge, it sparked me to enter more races. I hadn’t taken part in the race in a while, so when I saw that entries were open [for this year], I told my husband that I was thinking of running. He said I should do it, so I went online and entered the 5km.”
Hills encourages people to do what she did and would love to see crowds of women enter and enjoy themselves.
“I love the atmosphere. You can be a size two or 22, it doesn’t matter.
“What I want is to be with a bunch of South African women marching together. So just do it, don’t let anything stop you from signing up,” she said.
Roseann Shadrach, of SPAR Eastern Cape, said: “There’s something magical about the SPAR Women’s Race.
“There is such a special camaraderie that exists among the women participating . . . there’s a tangible air of emotion on race day.
“It’s amazing to see all the women coming out in their numbers to support not just the event but each other.
“We love the fact that women can empower women.”
Online entries close on May 3. Enter online at
www.walmerac.co.za Entries for The Little Ladies’ Race close on April 29.