FEATURE
4 MINS 14 SECONDS
Changing
the world one skip at a time!
While covering the Balwin Sport Peninsula I was introduced to someone who I initially thought was a bit mad. Running a marathon is generally already quite challenging, but running one while skipping rope seemed borderline crazy. But, in this industry, I have come across many a crazy runner, so I’ ve learnt you should always delve a little deeper and get the full story. That’ s how I got to know Marissa Groenewald, the Rope Runner. By Roxanne Martin
We have all seen crazy things when we run: runners in tuxedos, cow suits, Speedos, or barefoot. Sometimes it’ s for charity; sometimes it’ s for fun— most have some reason for doing what they do, so when I first met Marissa and recovered from my initial surprise, I figured the same was true for her. Turns out, I was right.
Marissa is not running with a skipping rope to look cool. She’ s doing it to raise awareness about human trafficking in South Africa.“ Many don’ t know, but South Africa is fourth in the world for human trafficking. It’ s a big problem and we literally don’ t know anything about it; I didn’ t know until I started this journey,” says Marissa.
This is a personal cause for Marissa. Growing up, she lived in Myanmar( then called Burma), with her parents. Her mother was involved in an outreach programme that helped women who’ d been trafficked, sold into slavery, and later rescued. Marissa’ s mother helped the women by teaching them a skill— making jewellery— as a way to help them restore some of their lost dignity.
She explains:“ I visited this outreach with my mother a few times, and the experience of seeing these women, knowing what they had been through, really hit home for me. Watching them, learning, being given a second chance, seeing what it meant to them, made such a big impact on me.”
The big thing we need to realise, says Marissa, is that trafficking is very real. It happens everywhere, frequently, and doesn’ t discriminate when it comes to age, gender or colour.
Marissa has partnered with Love Justice International, an organisation specifically focused on intercepting victims before they are trafficked, thus saving them from untold trauma. The organisation has intercepted 75,000 people to date and, with Marissa’ s help, they hope to help many more.
Marissa has a goal of raising R500,000, which would save an amazing 200 lives: Love Justice needs a mere R2,500 to intercept one person being trafficked. That amount includes what it costs to get someone to a place of safety.
However, there’ s more to Marissa’ s story than just the amazing cause she is running for. She is also hoping to become the first runner to skip the ultimate challenge, the Comrades Marathon. As far as firsts go, she is already the first runner we know of to skip a marathon, a 56km ultra. In just over two months she hopes to again make history over the 89.98km course.
So how did her journey start? After a hip injury in 2023 Marissa heard that skipping would help get her back into shape:“ I needed to do some rehab training and heard that skipping is good for overall fitness and training, while not putting too much pressure on my hip.”
10 ISSUE 178 | www. modernathlete. co. za