Two Cape Town runners are trying to make their way to to participate in the NY Marathon, which is expected to go ahead.
|||Cape Town - Two Cape Town runners are desperately trying to make their way to the US to participate in the New York City Marathon, which is expected to go ahead this Sunday despite the mayhem caused by superstorm Sandy.
On Tuesday, Prieur du Plessis of Stellenbosch, and Moyra Makina from Cape Town, who was stranded in Iceland, told the Cape Times they were intent on making it to the starting line of the 42km marathon – one of the world’s biggest running races, which attracts tens of thousands of participants from around the world.
They both intend competing for charities.
Superstorm Sandy has caused widespread damage in the US and resulted in flights being cancelled.
But the marathon’s website on Tuesday said: “At this time we anticipate no changes to any of our public events.”
Du Plessis said he was hopeful he would compete in the race. He planned to fly from Cape Town to Johannesburg, where he would wait and see if he could fly to New York.
He said he needed to get to New York by Thursday and would be “pushing it” if he got there on Friday. He said that because of jet lag, two rest days before the marathon were ideal.
Du Plessis said he had put months of preparation into the race, which he would be running for the charity A Running Start.
The charity focused on disadvantaged children with running potential from Africa, and took care of their schooling and then helped secure athletic scholarships for them.
On Tuesday, Makina, originally from Malawi and who has lived in Cape Town for more than two decades, answered questions via instant messaging. She said she was stuck in Iceland.
“Lots of stranded Americans out and about,” she wrote.
Makina later messaged that she was set to fly to Boston in the afternoon and would then hopefully leave for New York on Friday.
She planned to run the marathon, for the fourth time, for the charity Campaign for Female Education and had raised more than R40 000.
“I want to run this race more than anything. Not… for me but for every person who has given to this cause and the girls I’ve raised the money for. This race is not about me, it’s about them so am praying it happens,” Makina wrote.
caryn.dolley@inl.co.za
Cape Times