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Community Business Directory, Event Listings, News and Views from Gqeberha, Nelson Mandela Bay

Tackle the city for charity

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The Mandela Bay Development Agency (MBDA) hosts the 7th edition of the Urban Run charity festival on the 9th / 10th September to once again highlight ongoing inner-city upgrades in what has become the biggest charity obstacle event in the Country.

The Nelson Mandela Bay Urban Festival which has the city abuzz will take place on the 9th and 10th of September at the Donkin Reserve, starting at 08h00 with an open-entry public aerobics class instructed by the local Metro Gym. The festival transforms the heart of the city into an 8km obstacle course attracting hundreds of participates and bringing spectators to the city to witness the urban renewal being undertaken by the MBDA and commercial property owners.

The Urban Run was started in 2011 by Michael Zoetmulder, director of Zsports Events NPC, as a means to bring people back to the city in a fun event which provides a massive boost to local charities. The event is fast becoming one of the largest sporting events to be held in the CBD and to date, has raised just under R950 000 for local nominated charities.
This year’s nominated charities are the Cupcakes 4 Kids with Cancer initiative, and continued support of the Cleary Estate Cheshire Home, a home for chronically disabled adults and children situated in the heart of the crime and drug lands of the Northern Areas.

This year’s festival will include Drone Racing, a dog competition, a 3km Urban Kids obstacle run, a 15km Urban MTB race and the feature Urban Run which is a fun and social event where competiveness is more in the raising of charity money than running in record time, with participates dressing up and having fun as they attempt 30 or more urban obstacles and the five Powerade supported water points on the route through the CBD.
Akhiwe Malinga, Zsports Marketing Manager, stresses that the Urban Run has always been about having fun tackling the city and less about trying to be the first to cross the finish line.

“It’s not often runners can take part in an event where they can run and joke with their friends and colleagues and have a great laugh along the way. Such an environment has enabled the Urban Run to attract a lot of participants and this year hopes to bring the charity fundraising from this MBDA supported event to over R1 million.”

Local companies can get involved in supporting the event and charities by branding one of the obstacles or water points along the route or by donating prize hampers for the lucky draws.

Online entries are still open, the Urban MTB race entry is just R180, Urban kids 3km run is R100 and the Urban Run is just R150 – additional late entry fees will apply closer to race weekend. All participants in the Urban Festival are required to fundraise R100 or more for the nominated charities with charity forms available on the Urban Run website. The charities have put together awesome Goody Bag incentives depending on the amount of money raised – for further information and online entries, visit the Urban Run website www.urbanrun.co.za.

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Alan Straton

Chief Cook, Bottle Washer and Broom Mechanic at MyPE
Passionate about Port Elizabeth and definitely NOT packing for Perth. Alan's ethos is epitomised in the words of Nelson Mandela; "I have fought against white domination and I have fought against black domination. I have cherished the idea of a democratic and free society. If need be, it is an ideal for which I am prepared to die." See more articles by Alan.