Athletes race to protect SA’s heritage
Athletes congregated at the garden in the morning as they prepared to take on the 2,5, 8 and 16km races.
Athletes did their bit to save the country’s endangered plant heritage by participating in the inception of the Black Eagle Mountain Run at the Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden on Heritage Day, 22 September.
Athletes congregated at the garden in the morning as they prepared to take on the 2,5, 8 and 16km races.
The warm temperature that morning gave runners no excuses as the garden trails were dry – allowing a smooth and easy run for them.
The event organiser, Jacqui Purchase, shared the aim of the event. “We’ve come up with this event because of the Proteadal Conservation Association (PCA) that has been doing great work preserving and conserving the environment,” she said.
The PCA is a community group, formed to protect Krugersdorp/ Roodepoort ridge areas from development and preserve the natural environment in an urban setting.
Although the event is aimed at bolstering protection in this small part of the South African heritage, Jacqui said the Walter Sisulu Botanical Garden was a very important saying, “There are black eagles and reedbuck in the area. We also have very endangered orchids.
“The event was put together with the aim of raising awareness of what the PCA does as they conserve a small part of our heritage,” she explained.
Despite the event taking place during a busy long weekend, Jacqui was excited about the number of entries; however, she hoped for more next year. “We were very excited about the numbers. We had about 160 people at the event. This was our first event and we expect more entrants next year as this event will be held annually,” she said.
Lastly, she thanked the sponsors that supported the cause. “We just want to thank Adventure Junkie SA for organising the race, Walter Sisulu National Botanical Garden for the venue and PCA for their work at the garden,” she concluded.
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