Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 112, November 2018 | Page 30

TRAIL RUNNING
CLIMBING
The gruelling Rhino Peak Challenge Trail Run is
guaranteed to test the endurance of even the fittest
athletes, but in spite of extreme weather conditions
and not being used to such events, Mrs South Africa
2018 Nicole Capper conquered another ‘Rare Heights’
challenge – and it’s just her latest running exploit to
raise funds for worthy causes. – BY SEAN FALCONER
for the Cause
The event saw 10 elite athletes and 10 people of
interest take on the climb, and Nicole says “Being
invited to participate in this event as an influencer
was such a privilege, and I am humbled to have
been included. When Sibusiso Vilane suggested
I participate, I jumped at the chance to not only
get behind a cause I identify with, but it was an
opportunity for us to run together ahead of the Everest
Marathon, which we are doing together in 2019,” she
says. (They were also both part of a fundraising group
that climbed Mount Kilimanjaro earlier this year.)
“I knew I wouldn’t be the fastest, or the most
technically proficient, and when it hailed three times
and the icy wind was driving the rain into my face
while I made my way up some of the steepest gullies
I’ve ever seen, I knew I was out of my league. But
when people have rallied behind you to raise funds
and awareness for such an important cause, there’s
a purpose greater than pain or discomfort. Thank you
to every single person who pledged
towards this Rhino Peak Challenge.
It was one of my most rewarding and
empowering experiences, because the
mountains have a way of touching your
soul and sending you home a little different
to how you arrived.”
Platform to Influence
Besides being the reigning Mrs South Africa, Nicole
(33) is a pharmacist, businesswoman, model,
speaker, presenter, ambassador for Rare Diseases
SA and an advocate for women’s rights. She is also
mother of two children, Joshua (7) and Tatum (3). She
says it was her passion for health and preventative
medicine that prompted her to enter the Mrs South
Africa competition, in order to use the platform to
educate and create awareness around health and rare
diseases, because her daughter was diagnosed with
the rare disease, Cystic Fibrosis, at just six weeks old.
As a Rare Activist and the founder of Rare Heights,
Nicole uses her fitness to raise funds and awareness
for those without full health, by participating in
sporting events and outdoor adventures all over the
world. “I want to be a figurative ‘breath of life’ for
those who struggle every day with rare diseases. For
me, being Mrs South Africa is about so much more
than notching up Instagram likes – it’s about having a
purpose, and making a real difference.”
“Before this Rhino Peak Challenge I had never
participated in a fundraising climb or run for
endangered species, but I am passionate about
Nicole on her way up Rhino Peak (left) and in last year’s Old Mutual Two Oceans Half Marathon
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ISSUE 112 NOVEMBER 2018 / www.modernathlete.co.za
our heritage in this beautiful country, and I use the
outdoors as my training ground for my rare heights
training, so it’s only right that I help draw attention
to this incredible initiative. We are a land of ordinary
people who dare to do extraordinary things. Our
strength lies in standing together and celebrating each
other’s successes, picking one another up when we
fall, and daring to do great things in the face of great
adversity. My Rhino Peak Challenge experience was
all this and more.”
Chasing More Peaks
At the time of going to print, Nicole was already busy
with her next Rare Heights challenge, the Nine Peaks,
aiming to break the mixed team record for the fastest
non-stop summiting of the highest peak in each of
SA’s provinces. “The mixed team record stands at
six days and 15 hours, including travelling between
peaks, and we reckon the best possible time we could
do is just over four days,” says Nicole, and from there
she will go straight into a campaign of a different sort,
an art exhibition at Melrose Art Gallery called Uprising,
showcasing the human spirit.
Nicole’s training regime includes Crossfit five times
a week and several 5km to 10km runs. She believes
that although the physical challenge of the Rhino
Peak Challenge pushed her to her limit, battles like
these are fought more in the mind. “I want to be
an inspiration to my children, an ordinary mother
who is able to overcome challenges and achieve
extraordinary feats. I had to overcome my fear of
heights, so I want them to recognise that if I can
be brave, can fight and accomplish things I never
believed imaginable, then one day they too can
overcome obstacles they didn’t think possible.”
W
hen it came to prize-giving at this year’s
Rhino Peak Challenge in the Southern
Drakensberg on World Rhino Day, 22
September, there was only going to be one winner
of the ‘Person Who Gave the Most to the Mountain’
prize, Nicole Capper. The reigning Tammy Taylor
Mrs South Africa had pushed on through sleet, hail,
gusting winds, rain and freezing temperatures to
summit the iconic Rhino Peak and return to the start
81 minutes under her goal time of eight hours, and
thus she helped raise over R350,000 for various
conservation projects to protect endangered species
around South Africa.
Nicole’s elation at finally reaching
the summit of Rhino Peak