Modern Athlete Magazine Issue 134, October 2020 Issue 134, October 2020 | Page 20

ROAD RUNNING
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Top of the Fundraisers

When he ’ s not travelling all over KwaZulu- Natal , the Eastern Cape and the Free State in his Isuzu bakkie , selling Asics shoes , or leading the popular Beloved Long Runs and Comrades Route Tester training runs when back home in KZN , Dean Wight is one heck of a fundraiser . For the last three years in a row , he has been the top individual fundraiser on behalf of the Comrades Marathon Race for Charity campaign , having raised a total of R1,081,060 from 2018 to 2020 ! – BY SEAN FALCONER

It all started in 2017 , when Dean was able

to donate R70,000 to various charities from donations and sales of merchandise at his training runs . All participating runners pay a small fee to join these weekend group runs , and after Dean has covered his costs for refreshments and transport , the rest of the cash goes to charity . He also puts out a donation box at each run , and says many runners make generous contributions . That sizable charitable donation in 2017 caught the attention of the fundraising team at the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust ( HACT ), one of the official charities of the Comrades Marathon .
“ The Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust was nominated as an official Comrades charity towards the end of 2017 , and early in 2018 they approached me to become a running ambassador for the Centre ,” says Dean . “ I had already run the Comrades 26 times at that stage , but I had never done so for a charity . They have shops along the Comrades route , and many in their organisation have ties to the race , so we could relate to teach other , and I said I would do it , but I said I wanted to do more , by partnering the Beloved Long Runs to their charity ,” says Dean .
“ I set an initial target of raising R10,000 for them , but then said , hold on , we ’ ve got over 3000 Facebook members in Beloved Long Runs and can aim higher , so I increased that to R100,000 . An old school friend of mine saw on social media what I was doing and called me out of the blue to say that she would double the money if we reached that target , which we did in the first week of May . So , with R200,000 already raised and still with a month to go till the Comrades ,
I upped the target to R250,000 , then R300,000 , and eventually a few weeks after the race , we finished on R327,000 ! It really was terrific to see how much the runners were willing to give back .”
In the build-up to the 2019 race , Dean raised his initial target to R150,000 , and says that once again , out of the blue , his friend phoned to pledge support . “ She asked how I ’ m doing , then said she would give R200,000 to go with the R150,000 I raised , and we ended up raising R352,060 that year . In all the years , I have never put any pressure on her – she actually phones me and says she saw on social media what I am doing , but I haven ’ t called her yet , and she wants to support me !”
Taking on a New Challenge
In spite of his fundraising success in 2018 and 2019 , Dean says he wasn ’ t sure if he could do it again in 2020 . “ I was in two minds what to set my fundraising target as this year , but in the end the 2020 Comrades race slogan of # DareToDream spurred me on , so I decided to go fit and set my target at R400,000 .” However , then COVID-19 arrived , and all races and group running activities were cancelled , but with his typical positive outlook on life , Dean says he tried to take it all in his stride . “ Running around the garden was a whole new experience for me , but I took the challenge on ,” he says .
That saw Dean take part in the Bambalele Home Marathon Challenge , a fundraiser for HACT sponsored by FutureLife , on Easter Monday . According to Myles Buxton , a runner from Umhlanga who came up with
Images : Action Photo SA , Samantha Lauren Photography & courtesy Dean Wight & HACT
20 ISSUE 134 OCTOBER 2020 / www . modernathlete . co . za