GRAAFF-REINET NEWS — Elise Steynberg, a member of the Graaff-Reinet Running Club, will be running her third Comrades Marathon this year for more than her own satisfaction: through the backabuddy fundraising service she will also be raising money for Rainbows and Smiles, a charity supporting children with cancer.
Elise, who is 38, started running and walking eight years ago after the birth of her second child, in order to lose weight, and was soon hooked.
Her dream was to run Comrades one day and that dream came true in 2016. Unfortunately that year she was unable to finish the race in the allotted time, but last year she was back, even more determined, and finished with a creditable time of just over 11 hours.
Elise started training in earnest last October, but explains that she never really stopped running. The kilometre count starts in January, and she is confident in her preparation for the race, which this year is on 10 June.
"I decided to dedicate this year's Comrades to making other people's dreams come true," she said, after fulfilling her own dream.
The decision to run for Rainbows and Smiles came after watching a programme on television about a little boy with cancer. Having healthy children herself, but being faced with the reality of cancer all around her every day, she chose Rainbows and Smiles as her beneficiary.
"To bring a smile on someone's face, especially children, makes me happy and making a difference in their lives will give me great pleasure," she said. Elise hopes to finish her second Comrades this year, and will dedicate the run to all children suffering from cancer.
A modest goal of R2 000 was set by Elise, and after eight individual donations to date, she was thrilled when, on Tuesday, the Graaff-Reinet Running Club made a donation of R2 000.
Anything over this is now a bonus, and she would love to be able to perhaps double or even treble her original target. Anyone who would like to contribute can find her campaign on backabuddy by opening the backabuddy website, go to "donate" and choose "to a campaign".
A search for "Elise Comrades for Rainbows" will bring up her page, with a "donate" button.
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