When ultra-runner Mike Sewell suffered a bad accident in the early days of his run from Cape Town to the starting point of the Comrades Marathon in KwaZulu-Natal, his dream of raising funds for the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation came crashing down.
However, the SA running community put its best foot forward to keep his dream alive by running a collective equivalent of the distance for him.
Runners invited each other to each run a distance that would count towards covering the kilometres Sewell planned to cover.
Sewell was hit by a bakkie while running and his left humerus, a long bone in the arm that runs from the shoulder to the elbow, was broken.
He was taken to hospital in George where, despite his determination to get back onto the road, it was confirmed that his dream of running to Pietermaritzburg and then completing the Comrades was over.
At the time of the accident, Sewell had completed 350km, with 1,450km to go.
Fellow runners who had been following Sewell’s “Long Road to Comrades 2.0” run established a Strava fundraising account, titled “Long Road to Comrades v2.1 — R1m for CHOC”, for all those who wanted to join.
Since the account was opened, offers to help flooded in, with supporters organising group runs, walks and family hikes to contribute distance to the Strava account.
More than 300 participants have registered to join the group.
Sewell’s bid to run in aid of CHOC was inspired by The Cows, a group of athletes dedicated to raising funds to support the foundation.
Sewell committed to starting the run 19 days before the Comrades on August 28 to raise R1m and, in the process, complete the arduous 1,800km challenge that he and five others failed to get right in 2018.
Sewell got further than any of the other runners on what they dubbed “The Long Road to Comrades”, managing to complete a total 1,100km over 20 days.
He was on the fourth day of his run when the accident happened.
Sewell said more than R209,000 had been raised so far.
The runner, who is passionate about changing the lives of children with cancer, visited CHOC’s Gqeberha branch at the weekend.
This — and other branches — would have been one of his stops along the way.
After the accident, Sewell decided to continue the same route via a road trip with his girlfriend.
“Visiting the [Gqeberha] branch and getting to meet the staff, personally see the place and meet some of the children made me feel more connected to the cause.
“I didn’t want to just be a virtual supporter and I’m pursuing the original plan of visiting all CHOC branches along the way,” Sewell said.
From Gqeberha, Sewell made his way to the East London branch where he got to see a house built next to the foundation quarters through funds raised by The Cows.
He will make his way to the Pietermaritzburg and Durban branches later this week.
“Though I won’t be running, I will still be around to support CHOC and The Cows at the Comrades Expo,” he said.
Sewell will return to his Johannesburg home after the Comrades weekend.
He said he would get back on the road after completing his six- to eight-week recovery period.
CHOC Childhood Foundation Gqeberha branch manager Lynne Gadd-Claxton said Sewell’s efforts to raise R1m for the foundation were impressive.
“What Mike is attempting to do is impressive, despite the setback he experienced.
“There are families that experience setbacks and knocks, but they continue to fight the cancer battle.
“Giving up is not an option and Mike is showing that while he might not be able to run the roads to Comrades, his race to raise R1m is not over,” Gadd-Claxton said.
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