Social media posts of women and their families dressed up in official event t-shirts and bright yellow buffs dominated timelines this weekend as 30 000 women shared their SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge experience online. The hashtags #BeSunshine and #SPARVirtualChallenge trended throughout the weekend as support for this innovative virtual event poured in. The SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge, which was launched in July, sold out its 30 000 tickets ahead of the event which took place on Saturday. As a virtual event, there were no geographic boundaries to the race. Women across the country and in some parts of the world in any location could choose their own route and their own distance to walk or run. “Thank you to all 30 000 racers who participated in the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge. Our first-ever virtual challenge was a huge success and we could not have done it without you or our generous sponsors. For every entry that was received, we will be able to send 30 000 food parcels to the survivors of gender-based violence and their families. SPAR is proud to have created a platform that gave us all an opportunity to show up for the extraordinary women of South Africa and celebrate their relentless sunshine,” said Jerome Jacobs, Divisional Marketing Director, SPAR South Rand. A live broadcast from a studio in Johannesburg, hosted by Virtual Challenge Ambassadors Warrior Ric, Lucille Slade and Tuané Block, tied the event together in a social media live stream, crossing live to their fellow Ambassadors in various locations across Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Limpopo. The live stream brought the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge community together, allowing everyone taking part to see what their fellow participants were doing in their regions.

In Soweto, Warrior Ric rallied the women of Soweto to remember their worthwhile at the SPAR Distribution Centre in Thembisa, SPAR employees showed their support to the challenge by taking up the President’s message and doing the Jerusalema dance. Donald Mathipa from the SPAR Thembisa Mile, also showed up to show his support and thanked SPAR for backing his race over the years. At Hannah Charity Wolmer, one of the Virtual Challenge beneficiaries, the residents turned out to show their support to victims of Gender Based Violence. Further North, at the Maslow Hotel in Pretoria, the Jaguars Netball Team showed up to throw their weight behind this worthy cause and they were joined by 2016 Comrades Winner, Charné Bosman, and long-time SPAR Women’s Challenge ambassador and Pretoria favourite Lindie Strydom. The Oppie Bol Foundation joined them as well to prove to the nation that disabilities should not be a reason to cancel happiness or sunshine! In Limpopo, the communities in Thabazimbi and Modimole showed their support with immense excitement. In Mpumalanga the Mpumalanga Sunbirds Netball team did their challenge in the Lowveld Botanical Gardens in Mbombela. “To our phenomenal Brand Ambassadors and to everybody who took part and tagged us on social media using the hashtag #BeSunshine, thank you. We loved seeing all your photos and videos. Not only did we want our participants to enjoy themselves and know that community and sunshine are not cancelled, but we also wanted to send out a very important message; Gender Based Violence in South Africa needs to END and we can achieve this when we all stand together,” commented Charlene Goschen, Divisional Marketing Director, SPAR North Rand.  

Do you have more information about the story?

Please send us an email to editorial@rekord.co.za or phone us on 083 625 4114.

For free breaking and community news, visit Rekord’s website: Rekord East For more news and interesting articles, like Rekord on Facebook, follow us on Twitter or Instagram