NEARLY R5-MILLION RAISED FOR COMRADES CHARITIES
Fundraising for the official Comrades Marathon charities increased by nearly a million rand more in #Comrades2023 compared to last year with a total of R4,945,096 raised.
The Comrades Marathon Association (CMA) hosted its official charities handover in Hillcrest this morning (15.8.2023) and handed over the funds raised by runners, supporters, sponsors and the public at large.
“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 nearly R5-million raised was 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 Comrades ambassadors, staff and race organising committee volunteers.
The funds were distributed to the five official Amabeadibeadi charities, namely the Durban & Pietermaritzburg Community Chests, Childhood Cancer Foundation (CHOC), Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust (HACT), Rise Against Hunger (RAH) and WildTrust.
Runners who chose to Race4Charity raised R3.9-million with Dean Wight raising just over R470-thousand of those funds for the Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust, and once again maintaining his status as the Top Charity Fundraiser.
Justin Hand who ran for the Community Chest raised just over R280-thousand while Jenny Lincoln raised the third highest amount of R66-thousand for CHOC.
CMA Chairperson, Mqondisi Ngcobo said, “We are grateful to our charities for their daily work in making our country a better place. In the spirit of the Comrades Marathon, we should all give back in one way or another. I am constantly inspired by the commitment and passion that drives our Amabeadibeadi charities to deliver on their mandate and to go the extra mile. We convey our heartfelt thank you to our runners, supporters and partners who came on board to build on our fundraising efforts, most notably Toyota South Africa who generously sponsor the much-loved Toyota Corolla Quest for our annual car giveaway on race day, raising more than R 270-thousand for charity.”
Funds raised for the respective charities:
1. Childhood Cancer Association of SA (CHOC): R 1,689,440
2. Community Chest: R 1,017,599
3. Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust (HACT): R 1,121,936
4. Rise Against Hunger (RAH): R 659,316
5. WildTrust: R 456,805
Top charity fundraisers:
1. Dean Wight (HACT) : R 471,650
2. Justin Hand (Community Chest) : R 284,069
3. Jenny Lincoln (CHOC) : R 66,000
