Pretoria’s ‘Spinnekop’ shares his 43-day journey to Namibia

Imagine walking more than 1 500 km in only 43 days, with only three days’ rest – all while dressed in a Spider-man costume, Rekord North reports.

This is what Pretoria’s own Eric Nefdt, also known as Spinnekop, recently did. All to raise awareness around organ and tissue donations with the endorsement of the Organ Donor Foundation of SA.

This estate agent, family man and proud organ donor set out from Pretoria in August and arrived at Lüderitz, southern Nambia only last week.

August was organ and tissue donor awareness month in South Africa.

Nefdt’s motivation for this marathon walk was the sad fact that less than 0.2 percent of all South Africans are organ donors.

“The costume is a symbol to show that anyone can be a hero and can make a difference by leaving a lasting legacy through organ donation,” he said.

He was accompanied at different stages along the route by Friends of Spinnekop, such as Normie Eckard. Eckard recently completed seven extreme adventures in seven days for a little girl living with cerebral palsy.

Nefdt is no stranger to such marathons for a “cause”.

He completed the 2017 Comrades Marathon in his Spidey suit to raise awareness for Heart Kids SA. He is also a well-known site to Pretoria’s residents who frequently spotted him training in his superhero costume, during morning rush hour traffic.

Nefdt said he faced a lot of challenges on his latest marathon. They included a host of irritating little insects that swarmed around his face, during the three days before reaching Ariamsvlei; getting into his eyes, ears, nose and mouth.

The extreme heat meant that trying to cover up at those temperatures was even more unbearable and uncomfortable than the unwelcome attention of the insects.

Another challenge was not being able to run due to injuries such as lactic acid, Achilles’ tendonitis and blisters. Yet he still had to complete the same distances each day, which meant walking for 12 to 14 hours some days.