The Cows raised R1 685 873,00 for the CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa at the recent Comrades Marathon, with stalwart Cow Axel Rittershaus finishing second on the overall list of top individual fundraisers.
It was the best fundraising effort ever by the black-and-white kitted Cows at the Comrades as they contributed the most of the six official race charities.
Cape Town-based Rittershaus single-handed raised R82,315 for CHOC with fellow Cows Heather Lock, Pat Freeman and Leana Coetsee also making it into the personal fundraising top ten.
“It was our best Comrades ever!” enthused their national co-ordinator Jayde Fouché or ‘Daisy’ as she is known amongst The Cows.
“Not only did we top the charity fundraising total, but we had 156 runners running in the colours of The Cows.
“Our aim is two-fold. The first is the raise funds for CHOC and the second is raising awareness of childhood cancer and the challenges this disease poses in South Africa.
“On both counts we can look back on a very successful Comrades. The teams that ran our two watering tables did an amazing job, not just in terms of helping all the runners but their energy and noisy enthusiasm is what The Cows are all about,” she added.
The officially recognised Comrades Amabeadibeadi charities are the Durban & Pietermaritzburg Community Chests, Childhood Cancer Foundation (CHOC), Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust, Hospice Palliative Care Association, Wildlands Conservation Trust and World Vision SA, who through the Comrades Marathon’s fundraising platform and their own efforts, raised nearly R4.4-million.
This amount includes R321,900 in direct voluntary donations from runners with their entries. R3,65 million was raised through the Race4Charity initiative whereby runners commit themselves to raising funds for the charity of their choice. A further R117 000 was raised through Amabeadibeadi and other charitable product sales as well as R147 000 as a result of the individual charities own initiatives.
A total of R147 080 was raised for charity through ticket sales at the Comrades Expo and via the App for the annual Toyota Win-A-Car lucky draw which took place on Comrades race day.
The top ten individual fundraisers:
1.Dean Wight (Hillcrest Aids Centre Trust) R 352,060
2.Axel Rittershaus (CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation) R82,315
3.Tracy Bamber (Wildlands Conservation Trust) R50,560
4.Mike Cowling (Community Chest Pietermaritzburg) R 49,950
5.Heather Lock (CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation) R 43,700
6.Justine Rae (Wildlands Conservation Trust) R40,505
7.Mauritz Oberholzer (Hospice Palliative Care Association) R39,585
8.Barry Holland (Community Chest Durban) R38,600
9.Pat Freeman (CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation) R35,070
10.Leana Coetsee (CHOC Childhood Cancer Foundation) R34,090