Couple on 900km+ run to fundraise for children’s safe haven

A husband-and-wife team who are running the length of KZN to raise funds for orphaned and vulnerable children passed through Toti on Monday afternoon, 25 April.

Radio personality and motivational speaker, Phindi Gule-Burley and her husband Kevin Burley started their gruelling challenge on 1 April from the Mozambique border outside Kosi Bay. From there they ran south until they reached Toti and will continue to the southernmost tip of the province at Port Edward.

The distance they will run is just over 900km along subsidiary roads such as the R22, R66 and R102, as well as a number of dirt roads. They hope to run 30 kilometres for 30 consecutive days and finish on Saturday, 30 April.

They hit Toti in high spirits as it signalled the completion of 750km of their mammoth task. “We are glad to finally reach Toti,” they said when the Sun met them on Kingsway.

“Durban was a bit of a distraction for us. We stopped there for three days, but were fortunately to run on the M4 as it was closed for the Tour Durban on Sunday.”

Each morning at 6.30am, the pair lace up their takkies to start the day’s run from the previous day’s finish point. They run with no support or assistance, except a water stop every three kilometres, as is the norm with most organised races. Nutrition is carried with them as in a normal race, but a support crew follows them in a back-up vehicle to ensure their safety and wellbeing.

“The purpose for us in this challenge is to educate, house and provide a safe haven for 10 children for a minimum of a year at the LIV village in Verulam. We hope people will support us in this challenge by making donations to help raise the necessary R120,000 and give these beautiful children the right environment to flourish and grow.”

The entire challenge is being filmed and the couple hopes to see it aired in South Africa and the UK.

“We have suffered some physical problems along the way,” said Kevin. “I got injured and we suspected it could be a shin fracture, but it turns out I have a cyst growing on my shin.”

Kevin was forced to rest for three days and leave the running to Phindi. “I have a long-term knee injury which comes and goes. Fortunately, it only lasts a few minutes and doesn’t flare up every day. I suspect it could be from my shoes, as since I changed from trail shoes to takkies, it hasn’t been too bad.”

The couple also took strain with warm weather when they started the challenge. “Here in Toti it is much cooler, but with more humidity. It’s been tough. Even though we trained before starting the challenge, we have some hard days on the road.”

Both are runners and Kevin has finished five Comrades Marathons, while Phindi has crossed the ultra marathon’s finish line twice.

When asked what the first thing is they plan to do when they reach Port Edward, Phindi said: “Put my shorts and slops on and eat lots of good food.” Kevin, who has refrained from alcohol this year for the challenge, responded with: “Enjoy a nice glass of wine.”

To donate to the challenge, visit www.phindigule.co.za and click on the ‘Run KZN with Us’ tab.