You might ask why 36 Madsters would want to run 24 hours around the clock from Johannesburg to Cape Town for 7 consecutive days with very little sleep, well it was done to raise funds for the MAD Leadership Foundation.
The Foundation is an organisation that “want to make a difference by providing a scholarship program to educate, foster leadership and provide life skills development” to under privileged individuals who will become “role models who inspire others” .
The target was to raise R 1.5m through corporate sponsorships and through the individual Madsters themselves by being sponsored a rate per km that they ran.
With the ever-changing landscape facing businesses in South Africa in terms of gaining the most advantage out of their BBBEE (Broad Based Black Economic Empowerment) rating, Mincon had to look at options available to them in support of maximising their Socio-Economic Development spend, hence we got on board in being a day sponsor, our day being Wednesday 28 March from Fraserburg to Sutherland in the remote area of the Northern Cape.
We kitted out the Madsters with Mincon vests, hats and water bottles. I was very fortunate to travel down to Sutherland and meet up with the Madsters on the dusty dirt road some 80 km’s from Sutherland for the 16H00 shift change, there were 3 teams of 12 runners in each team who would run for 8 hours before handing over to the next team and so on – I ran the first 5 km’s with the new shift, and what an experience it turned out to be The Madsters were so thankful and complimentary about the Mincon sponsorship and my participation on the day, that it gave me a deep-felt respect and admiration for what the Madsters were achieving and going through (at this stage there were a number of varying degrees of injuries) which made me very proud of being part of Mincon and for our involvement in the project.
The Madsters started in the rain at 07H30 on Friday 23 March from Nelson Mandela Square Johannesburg and finished in the rain at 11H00 on Friday 30 March at the Cullinan Hotel in Cape Town.
Thank you Mincon for your sponsorship Neill Reynolds Finance Manager – Mincon SA
