Tonic for a wounded nation

AFTER a deeply troubling few weeks, Cape Town and our country are in desperate need of a tonic. Something strong and positive to regenerate our collective soul.

One such tonic is the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon on Sunday, which we at Independent Media are proud be associated with as media partners.

It’s not only the running of the event that is set to deliver the pickme-up. The preparation and training in preceding weeks shifts the focus from the sedentary to the active and from the desperate to the hopeful. The discipline of training body and soul to rise to the challenge of running the marathon is an important part of the transformation

Cape Town has hosted many marathons but until 2014 lacked a city marathon which could one day have a similar transformative impact as a New York, London or Berlin. That changed when distance running icon, Elana van Zyl, shared her dream of a world-class city marathon in Africa with World Cup Rugby captain, Francois Pienaar.

The race has grown into a “must-do” event , promoting athletics excellence, health and well-being and environmental consciousness, elements that Van Zyl regards as core to the event and an essential part of the race’s Run4Change programme, started by race director, Janet Welham.

London Marathon is the biggest single day charity event in the world, with over R1 billion raised this year. Imagine the transformative impact on both the receiving community and economy and the fund-raisers themselves should a multiplication to over R10 million and more be realised?

. So join one of the activation sites along the route after 7am on Sunday, or funding sites on the race website. It promises to be a wonderful day and a wonderful tonic.