Thousands of women around Southern Africa rose together last weekend, taking to streets, parks, estates and rural roads across the region for the third edition of the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge.

From the Western Cape to Limpopo, and Zimbabwe to Mozambique, women of all ages participated over their preferred distance at a venue of their choice in the popular mass participation event.

With activations taking place at various venues, including the North Rand, popular singer, actor and Jacaranda FM presenter Martin Bester and Leef women’s magazine joined the participants, at Big Red Barn in Olifantsfontein.

The initiative was supported in a very special way by Insimbi Legacy Projects, a non-profit company, that was established in 2018 in the far North of the Limpopo Province in South Africa, and pupils from Sekhwiditsane Primary School in Limpopo, among other community members, who took part to rise together, supporting awareness for rhino conservation.

Many girls also received support, thanks to the success of the event, with sanitary products being donated to Sekhwiditsane school.

In addition, Bruce Fordyce received a donation of R20 000 on behalf of parkrun to support an initiative to have a defibrillator at every parkrun venue in SA.

“We are very proud of the continued success of the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge, and we are grateful for the tremendous support we received once again from women around South Africa and neighbouring countries, as well as all our event partners and stakeholders,” said SPAR sponsorship controller Retha Ingenbleek.

She said that they believe events like this, which bring people together, help to create unity and make our communities better for all.

“Provided government regulations and Covid restrictions allow, we look forward to seeing the return of mass fields next year in the SPAR Women’s Challenge road running and walking series, but we are glad to have been able to continue supporting this event and involving women around SA with the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge,” Ingenbleek remarked.

SPAR would love to hear about your SPAR Ladies ‘I Rise’ experience. If you participated in the 2022 SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge event, you stand a chance to WIN a brand-new pair of Asics running shoes to the value of R2500 by completing our 10–12-minute survey.

Please go to the following link to begin the survey.  https://bit.ly/2022SWVCSurvey

Winners will be decided through a lucky draw. Terms and conditions apply. The competition ends on 30 September 2022.

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