Intrepid young athlete makes her mark

HIGHWAY’S Anna Dardagan (12) recently took her passion for running to the next level as she launched a two-hour fundraiser run along the promenade. While she clocked up an impressive distance of 17km during the allotted time, she also raised nearly R15 000 for Impendle Pre-school in the Drakensburg, her charity of choice.

Dardagan was introduced to the school through an employee of her parents, Gregg and Phillipa. The family made a trip to the area to meet the children and teachers of the school. The work done at the pre-school resonated with her and it never left her mind.

“After a while, I decided to just gather some donations for them, some food and toiletries and then I received some donations to get more,” she said.

Dardagan said the primary school and the high school in the area received government funding, but the pre-school had to find ways to support itself.

“Many parents in the area rely on the school to help look after their children while they work during the day. Resources are not easy to come by and, without the additional funding by the government, this challenge becomes even greater,” said Dardagan.

As Anna continued to collect donations for Impendle Pre-School, she also started to brew ideas on how to raise money on a larger scale and was drawn to her love of running.

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“I am a runner and my parents run, so I thought how about I do a run and get sponsored and it went quite well,” she smiled.

Her training for the bog days started in early August, with the help of her parents, both of whom are accomplished runners. They created a programme that saw her build up her running distances that also included her usual school sports and athletics commitments.

“My goal was 15km in the two hours, so I started off quite slow,” she admitted.

On the day of the run, the weather conditions were not in her favour. She persevered through the freezing cold and blistering winds, with bouts of rainfall, during her run along the promenade. Anna, joined by her parents, bravely kicked off her challenge at 15.00.

It was not all smooth sailing and, with half an hour to go, she needed to dig deep to meet her two-hour goal.

“I completed 17km in one hour and 58 minutes. I felt my worst during that last kilometre, so I walked the last two minutes, even though I knew I was not going to make another 1km in those two minutes. I had committed to the full two hours and I wanted to stick to that commitment,” said the determined athlete.

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With the current donation amount, Dardagan said she can afford to provide the school with much-needed supplies and help contribute to the improvement of the school’s facilities and main building.

Liesel Israel, the Westville Athletic Club’s ladies captain, who joined Anna on the day for a portion of the run, was impressed with Anna’s spirit and her attitude during the challenge.

“She didn’t stop smiling the whole way through. Anna was focused on her two-hour target and, even when she started to hurt, her spirits never dipped. It was a pleasure to be a part of her journey,” said Israel.

Donations will be handed over in October. To make an in-kind donation, contact Phillipa Dardagan via email at phillipadardagan@gmail.com.