ROAD RUNNING
Running for Mental Aweh-ness
For many people , heading out to run a half marathon is more than enough exercise for any given day . Most would hesitate before agreeing to run 21km two days in a row , let alone three or four 21km runs in a week . Well , Joburg runner Henry Cock is well on his way to running 133 half marathons on consecutive days in the Mentally Aweh Challenge . He will cover just over 2800km as he makes his way around the South African coastline , from Kosi Bay on the Mozambican border to Vioolsdrift on the Namibian border , and he ’ s doing this not only to set a new Guinness World Record for most consecutive days completing a half marathon , but more importantly to raise funds to promote mental health and ‘ aweh-ness .’ – BY SEAN FALCONER
Back in April 2020 , Henry Cock made the news when he ran the 90km Comrades Marathon distance in his passage at home , during the initial hard lockdown . With the passage measuring just 15 metres , it meant he had to do 6000 laps , and the 34-year-old Joburg Restauranteur did it all barefoot , too . What made the feat all the more impressive is that Henry had very little running background prior to his 90km run – his longest run had been 42km – and he reckons what kept him going was his playlist of music , and the fact that he was running to raise money for his staff .
Henry is one of the owners of the 86 Public restaurants in Johannesburg , and says his staff were struggling to make ends meet with all restaurants closed due to lockdown . He therefore decided to tackle an ultra-distance run and ask people to support his BackaBuddy fund set up to help support 20 families that were no longer earning a consistent income . “ I had been training for the MAD2Run charity run from Joburg to Cape Town anyway , and I had a little competition going with a friend who was also doing MAD , where we challenged each other to run the furthest , so I had just recently run a marathon ,” says Henry .
“ MAD had just been postponed to October , and I was receiving so many requests from staff for help , so I decided to do a run for them . I began looking
Henry Cock is loving his tour of South Africa as he chases a Guinness World Record and raises aweh-ness
16 ISSUE 144 AUGUST 2021 / www . modernathlete . co . za