Johannesburg - Former Two Oceans Marathon champions Israel ‘Izzi’ Morake is delighted that the ‘township running series’ he conceptualised back in 2018 is growing in leaps and bounds.
The Fortress Running Series, organised by the ISMO Athletics Club which Morake leads alongside Olympic 800m silver medalist Hezekiel Sepeng as well as athletics administrator Dorag Mngwevu, returns to the calendar this year with a new township added to the mix.
“We are going to Venda for the first time this year and for us this is a sign that we are growing, thanks to the great support from Fortress Retail who own a shopping mall there,” Morake, winner of the 56km Mother City ultra back in 1992.
Venda Run 2023 takes place at the Venda Plaza in Thohoyandou on July 16 and runners can participate in the half marathon (21.1km), 10km as well as a 5km fun run.
“This is the fourth year of the series and we decided on taking one of the races to Venda because we realise that rural areas are often left behind when events of this nature are organised. The focus is always on the townships and the suburb. And we decided to try and close that gap, and we have been very fortunate that Fortress came on board to help us achieve this goal.”
Besides winning the Two Oceans in 1992, Morake was a top-10 finisher at the ultra aptly nicknamed the world’s most beautiful marathon on four occasions and is also a Comrades Marathon gold medalist having finished fourth in 1991.
“Looking back at my running career, I realise that it takes a lot for a young athlete coming from rural areas such as where I grew up in Sterkspruit to become successful. And along with Hezekiel we saw the need to help make things a little easier for these promising athletes. And we would not have been able to do this Series without the support of Fortress.”
The Series was kick-started with a race in Morake’s home in the Eastern Cape back in 2018 and has grown to be run in other townships around the country. Sterkspruit will once again host a race this year on October 8 while the other two races will be in Evaton on August 20, and Kleksdorp on November 19.
Venda will kick-start the 2023 series and Morake and his team will be at the Venda Plaza on Saturday (July 2) to market the race.
“Entries for the race can be done online (enter online) but we will be in Venda at the weekend so that those who cannot access the internet can enter manually. We are very excited to be going to Venda and we encourage the people to come and be a part of what we believe will be an exciting day of running.”
Entry fees start at R60 for the 5km, R100 for the 10km and R150 for the 21.1km races Children under 12 can participate in the 5km race for free.
@Tshiliboy
IOL Sport