Public, pros and celebs run for education

More than 4 000 runners braved the cold early on Saturday morning to support MTN South Africa Foundation’s first 21km marathon for their 21 days of Y’ello Care campaign.

“The purpose of the marathon is to raise awareness of the MTN volunteerism initiative – MTN 21 Days of Y’ello Care – while raising funds for ICT projects in schools,” Thanyani Muthaki, senior account manager of the MTN Innovation Centre explains.

Runners started at the MTN Innovation Centre just outside Quellerina as early as 7am making their way through parts of Randburg and back to the centre.

Of course there were more serious runners who took part for the glory but for most it was all about sharing the excitement of giving back.

For the men and women pros running the 21km, including local road queens Irvette van Zyl and René Kalmer, there was much to run for, considering the winners in both categories each received a cheque of R21 000.

The remaining distances to choose from, namely the 10km and 5km fun run saw the most participants – obviously not to show who’s best but for the sole purpose of getting fit and shaking off some of the early-winter fat – mainly running for education.

“Schools in South Africa commonly are challenged by lack of resources and infrastructure. MTN SA Foundation has realised the need to help schools achieve their mission by providing pupils with quality education and assisting them in developing their potential,” Muthaki says.

“On Saturday, the MTN SA Foundation launched the first of what is to be the annual MTN 21km marathon for 21 Days of Y’ello Care in Gauteng. The purpose of the marathon was to raise awareness of MTN’s commitment to uplifting underserviced communities by investing in education,” Muthaki adds.

“With the theme Walk/Run for Education, all proceeds from the marathon will be donated to purchasing and delivering required ICT equipment such as computers and projectors to various schools in South Africa,” Muthaki says.

This year’s marathon also attracted celebrities such as musician Slikour, DJ Sphectacular and DJ Naves.

Visit the scoreboard for runners’ results.