SPECIAL FEATURE
Called to Conservation
The 2017 and 2018 Two Oceans Marathons will always be a particular highlight of Buyi Makhoba-Dlamini ’ s running career , because she ran them as a GOGREEN Ambassador on behalf of the WILDLANDS Conservation Trust that she works for .
my marathon PB of 4:28 in the Deloitte Marathon , ran my first Two Oceans , and also ran a 4:50 in Soweto , which confirmed I could run the Comrades in 2018 . I then finished Comrades in 11:54 – literally through the eye of the needle – but I got my medal , which was my ultimate running goal .”
Buyi and fellow GOGREEN Ambassadors running the 2017 Two Oceans Marathon
In the build-up to the 2017 Two Oceans Marathon ,
the organisers called on runners to look out for the specially made large throw-zone bins when discarding their plastic sachets during the race . This was in response to repeated criticism the event had received about the litter left in the environment after each year ’ s race , even after the clean-up teams had been over the route . The special bins were bigger , wider and lower , to make it easier for runners to throw or drop sachets into them , and the even better news was that the plastic waste would then be sorted and sent to be recycled into school desks !
This was all part of the GOGREEN campaign launched by WILDLANDS and sponsored by Old Mutual , and the conservation organisation also appointed GOGREEN Ambassadors to run the event in branded kit to further promote the initiative . It was therefore a natural choice for Buyi , the Deputy Director of Marketing and Communications at WILDLANDS as well as an experienced marathoner , to be one of the Ambassadors in the ultra . In their bright green kit , Buyi and her fellow GOGREEN Ambassadors certainly stood out , and she says they did get some positive reaction from fellow runners .
“ Some runners showed interest , both at the Expo and during the race , but it was hard to gauge how much success we had in changing the runners ’ behaviour on the day . We ran the campaign in both the Two Oceans and Comrades Marathons in 2017 and 2018 , and along with other anti-litter initiatives such as # runclean and # ICarryMyOwn , I think the campaign did have an impact . I noticed a positive impact on other events and within my own club , and I heard much more discussion amongst runners about not littering . Unfortunately , Old Mutual did not renew that sponsorship , so the campaign ended after the 2018 Comrades , but WILDLANDS is still part of
the education process in terms of reducing plastic waste and our carbon footprint .”
Journey of Becoming
Buyi ( 39 ) was born in Pietermaritzburg , studied in Cape Town and worked in Johannesburg , then returned to Maritzburg , where she has worked for WILDLANDS since 2014 . It is a division of WILDTRUST , alongside WILDOCEANS and other initiatives , and a large part of their focus is fundraising for conservation work and research done by partner organisations . “ Joining the organisation made me far more aware of my role in the bigger scheme of things , and how I affect the environment through my habits and practices . It ’ s like a journey of becoming , and I now feel so much more passionate about what I do . Before 2014 I was in retail and corporate , doing customer service , sales and retail , but this conservation work , and the passion I have for it , really ‘ found ’ me ,” she says .
Buyi followed a fairly traditional path into running . In 2010 she says she was exercising to lose weight after the birth of her son , when a friend suggested during a gym session that they should go for a 5km walk . “ That became a 10km run , and next thing I knew I was doing the Spar Women ’ s 10km , then a 21km ,” she recalls . A first marathon followed in 2014 , at the Umgeni Marathon at Midmar Dam , but Buyi was left disappointed …
“ I missed the Comrades five-hour qualifier by just 6 seconds , but I also learnt lessons from that , and so I worked on my fitness and got faster . In 2017 I ran
In the meantime , however , she had discovered a new running passion , after being introduced to trail running through her work for WILDLANDS at the WILDSERIES mountain biking and trail running events . “ I discovered the beauty and solitude of running in nature , and learnt more about the impact of running on the environment , including the litter problem in road running . That linked me to people like Karoline Hanks , Blake Dyason and Hanno Langenhoven , and led to our # GOGREEN campaign ,” says Buyi .
Renewed Effort Needed
WILDLANDS is currently one of the official Amabeadiebeadie charities that benefit from the Comrades Marathon , and Buyi says they are hoping to do much better in
2021 . “ We only raised about R250,000 from the cancelled 2020 race , the smallest amount in all the years I have been involved with WILDLANDS at Comrades , so we are hoping the race will go ahead and planning to drive a broader conservation message this year . The bottom line is that we cannot survive without the support of the public , so we need them to understand our work and why it is important , and then buy into it .”
With hubby , Nsizwa Dlamini , after the Comrades
To support the work done by WILDTRUST , go to https :// wildtrust . co . za / support-us
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