Glen Anil resident completes mammoth charity run
Educator Gavin Skevington ran along South Africa’s coastline, from Port Edward to the Ponto border post to raise funds for five charities.
BLISTERS, broken toenails, a hamstring injury and general body aches proved no obstacle for Glen Anil resident Gavin Skevington who recently completed his endurance charity run of 600km over 15 days along South Africa’s coastline.
The 43-year-old ran from Port Edward to the Ponto border post to raise funds for the Childhood Cancer Foundation SA (CHOC), Sithanda Upliftment Projects, Paw Prints, Project Rhino and The Jes Foord Foundation.
That worked out to running 42.27km a day for 15 days. His initiative, which he called Run the Coast, saw him raise R114 743 to be shared across the five charities.
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That figure is expected to grow as his goal was to raise R20 000 per charity.
Surrendering the school holidays to complete his epic quest, Skevington said the logistics, accommodation, organising seconders and plotting of the route were what took up most of his time.
“The organising of the run was what occupied me the most in the lead-up to the start. I didn’t have time to get anxious until the night before the start of the run. Having never completed a marathon before made this a little more challenging.
“Mentally though I think this proved that your mind needs to be strong before your body and that you’re more capable of doing things than you might think,” he said.
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Skevington, the director of sport at Northlands Primary School, praised all those who gave willingly to the cause.
“Each donation has made a massive difference to the lives of so many. It is because of people like them that we can reach the intended goals, they are all absolute legends,” he said.
- For more information or to continue to support his efforts, visit www.runthecoast.co.za.
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