Weekend Argus (Sunday Edition)
Inspirational trio run for a worthy cause
FOR three men who competed in the Two Oceans Marathon yesterday, glory wasn’t the ultimate prize.
Tumelo Mokobane and Joseph Segula ran the ultra marathon and Ipeleng Khunou did the half-marathon for charity.
Khunou, on crutches, competed in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund.
He was born with septo-optic dysplasia, a brain deformity that causes loss of balance.
Khunou finished the 21km race yesterday in 3 hours 15 minutes and 27 seconds, raising R5 050, which he said was “unfortunate” as he had wanted to raise more.
“I feel happy that I finished. I was quite fast in the first half of the race going uphill because that’s my strength, but I started to cramp in the last few kilometres,” he said.
“I want to run at the Paralympics if a category can be provided.
“Preferably a short distance because I can always go back to marathons.”
Khunou said he had been called an inspiration but his goal had simply been to raise as much money for his charity as he could.
“I’ll continue running marathons and doing philanthropy work with every race I run,” he added.
Khunou chose the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund because he wanted to honour the legacy of the former president in his centenary year.
Mokobane and Segula each ran 56km yesterday. In the lead-up they ran a marathon a day for two weeks.
They left Kempton Park, Johannesburg for Cape Town on March 14 and ran 100km a day for 15 days – a total of over 1 500km.
Mokobane started his Do The Right Thing Foundation to raise funds for school shoes, wheelchairs and for sanitary pads for girls.
He works with the Bula Mahlo and Ubuhle Bezwe homes in Tembisa, Gauteng.
He completed the Ten 10 charity race in the build-up to the Comrades Marathon, where he raised funds for abused animals.
The race takes place over 10 days and covers 900km from Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg.
‘I want to run at the Paralympics if a category can be provided’