It’s off to the USA for two local conservation fun runners
Two young Mpumalanga athletes run their way open right through to the Myrtle Beach Divas half-marathon
MBOMBELA – Two local youngsters have been chosen to compete in a conservation fun run in America alongside famous long-distance runner, Zola Budd-Pieterse.
Thabang Hedzane (17) and Linah Maseke (15) are the winners of a Conservation Fun Run campaign organised by the Social Ecology department at the Mpumalanga Tourism and Parks Agency (MTPA).
Zola Budd-Pieterse and Newton USA, a company that produces running shoes, invited the two winners to visit the United States of America as Mpumalangas’ Junior Conservation Ambassadors to join her in a prestige race attracting large numbers of runners from all ages. The Divas 5km half- marathon will take place in Myrtle Beach in South Carolina on April 12 and Budd-Pieterse is also taking part.
To prepare the two youngsters for this visit took a lot of guts and courage. They have never even been to Johannesburg or Sandton, doesn’t understand or trust escalators or the Gautrain and will fly for the first time in their lives, right across the Atlantic to South Carolina and Myrtle Beach on Easter Monday.
“Big or small, conservation needs all” is an annual educational awareness campaign launched by the MTPA in 2013. Last year from July to October the agency reached more than 180 000 learners across the province.
Eight regional conservation fun runs took place and the winners competed in the Provincial Conservation Fun Run in Mataffin near Mbombela on September 27. The big prize for the winners was this visit to the USA.
When Linah was told about this price the first question she asked Zola was, “Where is that and how far is it from home?”
The new CEO of Conservation Services at MTPA, Mr Abe Sibiya, congratulated the two runners. “Nothing will ever be the same again. You are now celebrities in your communities and in the province. From now on the world’s eyes will be on you. You are our junior ambassadors. I am the big conservationist and you are the small ones and we need you too,” he added.
“The programme called “Big and small, conservation needs all”, looked at the Big 5 as well as the Small 5 with the same names, colours or features. Like the elephant and the shrew, the lion and the lion ant and others.
Everyone have a role to play, in the same way the biggest and smallest person can all do their part to support the future of conservation.”
“Educational material were handed out at all the schools that was branded with the theme of the campaign. There are puzzles, posters, board games and an elephant activity book that will also be handed out at three different schools in South Carolina,” says Ms Marinda Marais, senior manager of social ecology at MPTA.
Zola Budd-Pieterse will accompany them on their visits to three schools where they will tell the learners at those schools about life in South Africa. Linah told the Lowvelder what she wanted to tell them. “I will tell them how close we are to nature and how we value our open skies, veld and animals. I will also tell them that my role model is Caster Semenya, who ran in the recent Olympic games.”
Thabang said with a serious expression, “I have to think about it first. I can’t tell you now.”
The MTPA is considering inviting three learners from Myrtle Beach to take part in the Provincial Conservation Fun Run at Mataffin in September. The two athletes will return home on April 16.
