Runners Begin More Than 2,000-Mile Journey Around South African Coast
On Tuesday, July 1, extreme athletes David Grier and Braam Malherbe started a task many deemed ‘Mission Impossible’. They will be raising money for Operation Smile South Africa by ‘running a smile’ around the South African coastline. Their aim is to raise 1,000 South African Rand per kilometer, totaling 3.5-million South African Rand (USD $450,000). They began in Namibia and will run until they reach Ponta do Ouro in Mozambique, averaging 45km (28 miles) a day, six days a week for about three months.
“Nothing is Impossible,” Braam Malherbe told a group of cheering schoolchildren at the start in the Namibian frontier town of Oranjemund. The 3,500km (2,175 miles) endurance undertaking is supported by four Toyota 4x4s which are providing logistical support and being used to set up lunch stops and campsites each night.
This is a “journey of hope,” David Grier said of the event known as the Cipla Spar Miles for Smiles Coastal Challenge 2008, in association with Round Table South Africa. In a gesture rich in symbolism, the two athletes ran across the 1km-long bridge spanning the Orange River between Oranjemund and Alexander Bay, with Namibian and South African flags flying proudly. “That was a very special experience, carrying the flags in a symbol of unity.”
Pharmaceutical company Cipla Medpro and Spar South Africa are two of the sponsors, with Round Table South Africa also helping to raise funds.
In 2006, the two men from Cape Town, South Africa, were named South African Adventurers of the Year after they ran the entire length of the Great Wall of China, completing 4,218km (2,621 mi), the equivalent of 98 marathons in 98 days. That feat was accomplished under extreme weather conditions ranging from well below freezing to more than 40º C.
Grier and Malherbe’s daily progress can be charted and donations can be made on the Miles for Smiles website
