COMRADES MARATHON RAISES NEARLY R6.5-MILLION FOR CHARITIES
The Comrades Marathon Association celebrated a successful charities handover in Botha’s Hill recently and handed over the funds raised by runners, supporters, sponsors and the public at large during this year’s Up Run to its official charities.
“We are impressed with the fundraising efforts of our runners and supporters in this year’s Comrades Marathon and are proud to hand over the funds to our deserving charities,” said CMA Charities & CSI Convenor, Pat Freeman, who thanked everyone who contributed to this year’s Comrades Amabeadibeadi charity drive.
“The commitment and passion of our Amabeadibeadi charities inspire us all to give back and make a difference. Their grassroots initiatives and daily hard work is what makes South Africa great.”
The total sum of R6.477,983 (exceeding 2023 donations by 1.5million) was achieved through a combination of charitable donations with runners’ entries, merchandise sales at the Comrades Expo, the Race4Charity platform, the Toyota Win-A-Car competition and funds raised by the greater Comrades community.
The funds were distributed to the six official Amabeadibeadi charities, namely the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation SA, Sanparks Honorary Rangers, Durban & Pietermaritzburg Community Chests, Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust (HACT), Rise Against Hunger (RAH) and Childline KwaZulu-Natal.
Runners who chose to Race4Charity raised R5.2-million with Mahesh Ratanjee, being the top fundraiser for 2024, raising nearly R200-thousand rand for his charity of choice, Community Chest.
Jana Calmeyer who ran for the Childhood Cancer Foundation raised R142-thousand while Dean Wight raised the third highest amount of R110-thousand for the Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust.
The CMA conveyed a heartfelt thank you to all Comrades runners, supporters and partners who came on board to build on our fundraising efforts, most notably Toyota South Africa who generously sponsored a Toyota Corolla Cross for the annual car giveaway on race day, raising nearly R737-thousand for charity.
Funds raised for the respective charities:
1. Childhood Cancer Association of SA (CHOC) : R 2 458,276
2. Sanparks Honorary Rangers : R 991,300
3. Community Chest : R 954,793
4. Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust : R 756,827
5. Rise Against Hunger : R 702,827
6. Childline KwaZulu-Natal : R 613,960
Top charity fundraisers:
1. Mahesh Ratanjee (Community Chest) : R 197,016
2. Jana Calmeyer (Childhood Cancer Foundation) : R 142,000
3. Dean Wight (Hillcrest AIDS Centre Trust) : R 110,350
