In less than a week on Sunday 18 October, the City of Cape Town will host the first ever Sanlam Cape Town Virtual Marathon – and fundraising is very much part of the equation, say organisers as they cement ties with homegrown global fundraising platform GivenGain.
“The extraordinary circumstances of this year required extraordinary measures. The Sanlam Cape Town Virtual Marathon team wanted to provide athletes with the opportunity to train, remain competitive, and stay connected to the greater running community,” notes Sanlam Cape Town Virtual Marathon Race Director, Renée Jordaan. “This is why we created a virtual event like no other that will take Cape Town to the global running community.”
“This year, we want our runners to Run for Something, and GivenGain provides them with the perfect connection to a meaningful experience.”
A history of doing good
This year’s event marks the fourth year of successfully collaborating with GivenGain South Africa, an association that has led to many inspiring participant stories over the years to share with the world.
In the last three years, Cape Town’s iconic marathon event has raised over R2 million from 506 fundraisers. With a yearly increase in the total number of fundraisers, the event last year alone raised almost R1 million from 300 runners.
Charity champions
Some of the top fundraisers for 2020’s event* include Jaco Pieterse, who has already raised R102,148 for national dog rescue charity Cape of Good Hope SPCA, and Stephanie Bugan, who is running for children’s charity Ravensmead Creche.
Heidi Jansen is another proud supporter ‘Running for Something’. Dedicating her race to her 82-year-old grandmother, who has lived through great adversities, Heidi has raised R7,200 so far for CANSA Active. On her GivenGain page, she urges her supporters to “be a part of changing lives meaningfully”.
While the 2020 Sanlam Cape Town Virtual Run will be hosted without crowds of spectators and in-person live entertainment, it’s all going ahead virtually.
Organisers are confident that the inspirational stories and interactive experience will bring together the community during some of the most challenging times to hit the country in recent years – from all over the world!
Adds Barry van Blerk, General Manager at Sanlam Cape Town Virtual Marathon, “The Sanlam Cape Town Virtual Run brings the iconic race to your city, town and corner of the world through an immersive and interactive virtual race experience. But this is more than just a virtual event; we are introducing the running community to the most advanced virtual event app on the market right now, while runners can continue to inspire and be inspired through real-life fundraising efforts.”
Jannie Smith, Operations Manager at GivenGain, says:
“Over the last few years, our dedicated fundraisers have raised an incredible amount of money for a range of worthy causes. As this is the first year the event has been run virtually, we hope to raise as much as, if not more than previous years. More importantly, we hope all participants involved have a thoroughly enjoyable day, and a meaningful experience throughout the event and after.”
Runners can be a part of the event by running the full marathon, half marathon, 10km or 5km Peace Runs: www.capetownmarathon.com.
Fundraising for the Sanlam Cape Town Virtual Marathon 2020 will stay open for a week after the event. The public can start their own fundraising page or support their favourite charity by visiting GivenGain.
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