Runners End Journey of More Than 2,000-Miles Around South African Coast
On Tuesday, July 1, extreme athletes David Grier and Braam Malherbe started a task many deemed ‘Mission Impossible’. They began a 3,500km (2,175 miles) course raising money for Operation Smile South Africa by ‘running a smile’ around the Southern Africa coastline. They began in Namibia and ran until they reached Ponto do Ouro in Mozambique, averaging 45km (28 miles) a day, for 81 days over about a three-month time period.
“Nothing is Impossible,” Braam Malherbe told a group of cheering schoolchildren at the start in the Namibian frontier town of Oranjemund. Four Toyota 4x4s provided logistical support and were used to set up lunch stops and campsites each night.
They ran the miles, overcoming fatigue, pain, injury, huge storms, massive flooding and dangerous river crossings to enable Operation Smile South Africa to change the lives of children through its programs. “It’s been worth every drop of sweat and footprint left along the way,” Grier said.
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.
