Glen Marais dad runs Berlin Marathon in aid of grandmothers in Africa
The Glen Marais runner won’t be running marathons again any time soon, so he decided to go out with a bang.
Glen Marais resident Frederick Smit (50) conquered the Berlin Marathon on Sunday with a time of four hours and 22 minutes.
His run was to benefit a project organised by Help Age Deutschland, a non-profit organisation in Osnabrück, Germany. The project aims to help grandmothers across Tanzania and South Africa who lost their children to Aids, and now support their grandchildren.
Smit, a member of Kempton Road Runners, is no stranger to long-distance running. He has completed the Two Oceans four times and Comrades Marathon three times.
“The atmosphere at the Berlin Marathon was amazing,” the father of three told Express. “The fact that I was at a marathon where Kenya’s Eliud Kipchoge broke the world record also made it very special.” Kipchoge ran in two hours, one minute and 39 seconds.
Although he loves running, Smit said he would hang up his marathon shoes for good, due to a back injury.
“From now on I’ll be running park runs, 21km and anything fun with my children but no more marathons.”
