Marcels Development Athletes

Greetings Running Family and friends of the community,

 

Many of you will know of Coach Marcel, the running coach that has a few of us as clients, and who is also a very active member of the running community in South Africa and Africa.

Whilst Marcel has many of us as clients (some past, present and hopefully in the future), what you may not know is that he does a huge amount for development athletes to ensure that if they show commitment and talent, that he paves the way for them to succeed. He does this at his own expense, and through donations and fundraising. He currently has two such athletes that are in desperate need of support. I will withhold their personal details to protect their privacy and dignity.

The first athlete is a very talented track runner with a time of 8.31 for 3,000m (#Wow!) and the second is an up-and-coming road runner. The one is orphaned and the other is from an impoverished background – neither of them have access to any financial resources that they can tap into for shoes, transport to races or even nutrition (think about what we pay for one fancy-shmansy gel sachet!)

 

Marcel provides their kit, race entry fees and licenses, and to ensure that they do not come to expect handouts, he asks for a small percentage of their winnings to try and educate them around the value of money.

 

They are however both in dire need of new training and racing shoes. Yup, you guessed it.

 

This year I managed to earn my way into C Batch for Comrades (hooray for a sub 3.40 at Cape Town marathon) and so instead of fundraising for a Comrades charity, I’d like to support Marcel’s athletes. I am confident that the funds will be used exactly how they should be, and I would rather fundraise and give back to a running related cause, since this is my passion. The sport gives me so much joy – friends, long runs, the adrenalin of races, the occasional podium, solving the worlds problems at 4.30am and happiness. With your help, I feel like it’s my (our) turn to try and give back to the sport. Any donation amount will go towards changing the lives of these two individuals – small donation, big impact. Go on, where’s that credit card...