ROAD RUNNING
Ed ’ s Pick January 2020
Seven Times Seven
The World Marathon Challenge is a unique running feat that only a small handful of runners will ever complete , but that ’ s what Nontuthuko Mgabhi will be doing from 6 to 12 February – and this will make her the first South African woman to complete this incredible challenge . – BY MANFRED SEIDLER
Try to wrap your head around this : Seven marathons on seven consecutive days . That ’ s 295.4km in a week , which would already be quite a feat , but now throw into the mix running those seven marathons in seven days on seven different continents , with the only rest time between runs being taken up by flying from one continent to the next . That ’ s what the World Marathon Challenge is all about . It takes the traditional challenge of running a 42.2km standard marathon to a whole new level !
The 2020 edition of the challenge starts with the first run at Novo in Antarctica on the 6 th of February . The second run is on the African continent , right here in Cape Town on the 7 th , before runners head to Perth , Australia for the third marathon on the 8 th . From there it is on to Dubai , UAE ( 9 th ) for the Asian leg , then Madrid , Spain ( 10 th ) to cover Europe , followed by the city of Fortaleza in Brazil on the 11 th for the South American leg . Finally , it ’ s north from there to Miami in the USA on the 12 th , to finish the challenge on the North American continent .
On top of the gruelling 295.4km of running , the Challenge runners must cope with close to 43,000km of air travel , and travelling across multiple time zones ! Of course , the logistics of the travel arrangements are a major part of the Challenge , which charters a private plane to fly the runners from destination to destination . As part of this , the organisers arrange for easy transition at all the airports , to avoid the runners having to stand in queues at customs . Unsurprisingly , the whole excursion comes at a hefty cost of 35,000 Euros per person .
Taking on the Challenge
In 2018 , South Africa ’ s Ross Taggart became the first South African to compete in the World Marathon Challenge , and this year 32-year-old Nontuthuko Mgabhi from Richards Bay in KwaZulu-Natal will become just the second South African in the Challenge , and the first woman from Africa to attempt it . She says she found out about the Challenge in March of 2019 and felt it is something she should do , to raise funds for Khiphinkunzi Primary School in the Mtubatuba area in KZN . This school was founded in 1997 and currently has a total of 657 learners ( 349 boys and 308 girls ) between the ages of five to 15 years .
Nontu came across this rural school while running the Karkloof Challenge 100 Miler trail race in 2018 . “ I was stunned when I saw the poor state the school was in . Over 100 kids in each class , and what facilities there are , are in a very poor condition . There is only one office for the principal and all the teachers . This is hardly conducive when confidential conversations need to take place . It really affected me ,” she says .
“ The school is in desperate need of basic infrastructural resources , because the current infrastructure actually undermines effective teaching and learning . All the windowpanes are shattered . Old pieces of chalkboard cover the back windows . The pot-holed floors in the classrooms have not seen polish in years , because there is almost no floor to polish . The implications of learning under such conditions are frightening .”
Even worse , she says that many of the parents of the children in the school are unemployed and depend on government grants ( pension or child support ). “ The majority of the families are child-headed , or are raised by their grandparents , and a significant number of children who attend the school go to bed with empty stomachs , and then have to travel a long distance to and from school without any food .”
Supporting the Cause
While Nontu always knew that attempting seven marathons in seven days , with all the travelling , would
Nontuthuko running the iKhulu Trail Run in Maputaland in October
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