Ingrid Avidon has set a mammoth challenge to complete 12 endurance events in one year, all in the hopes of encouraging more women into the sports.
South Africa (22 July 2022) – Many athletes use their ability and love of endurance races to raise funds for worthy causes. Ingrid Avidon decided to use her love of the sport to raise funds to bring in more female athletes from disadvantaged backgrounds into the sport.
Representation in sport is often lacking when funding isn’t available. By raising funds to cover the high fees frequently asked by endurance event organisers, Ingrid hopes to give more women the opportunities to push themselves. Representation in sports is important because it gives children the opportunity to dream about achieving the very same accomplishments.
Ingrid decided to set up the 12 x 12 Challenge, which would see her participating in twelve endurance challenges within one year. We first heard about Ingrid after Omphile Joy became the first woman of colour to complete the Freedom Challenge.
Ingrid rode her first Freedom Challenge race in 2010, so she had great experience to draw from for Omphile’s first race. Partnering with Omphile and working towards raising funds for her race, the two made history in July, thus creating awareness for this important cause.
The Freedom Challenge was just one of the 12 challenges she set for herself.
- “Everesting” – Doing the equivalent of climbing Mt Everest (8848m) by accending and defending the Westcliff Stairs (50m) in Johannesburg, 177 times. Ingrid completed the challenge in 28 hours and 4 seconds. – January 2022
- Dusi Canoe – Completing the canoe marathon race along the Msunduzi and Mgeni Rivers over a distance of 120km. Ingrid completed the challenge despite her canoe breaking in the rapids 30km from the finish line. – February 2022
- Race to Cradock – A non-stop, self-navigated mountain bike race between Rhodes and Cradock – distance of 580km with 8300m of elevation. Ingrid completed the race in 3 days, 7 hours and 11 minutes. March 2022.
- Race to Willomore – A non-stop, self-navigated mountain bike race from Cradock to Willowmore. 530km and 7000m ascent. This was the first race Ingrid did with Omphile. They completed the race in 3 days and 15 hours. March 2022.
- The Ironman – The Iron Man South Africa was made up of a 3.8km sea swim, 180km cycle and 42km run. Ingrid completed the challenge in 11 hours and 40 minutes. April 2022.
- The Hour Endurance – Lap Racing Redefined. Cycle 10km, on the hour, every hour, for 60 hours or until the last cyclist is left standing. Only time will tell where your limit is. Ingrid was the second-last rider left and completed her challenge in 61 hours, or a total of 610km. 30 April to 2 May 2022.
- The Freedom Extreme Triathlon – A 90km solo run along the Comrades Marathon route, followed by the 2200km Freedom Challenge Race Across South Africa and finally the 4 days, 240km Berg River Canoe Marathon. Ingrid completed the solo Comrades Run and then the Freedom Challenge alongside Omphile; however, she needed to abandon doing the Berg River Canoe Marathon after 2 and a half days. But we will share more about that below. June and July 2022.
- 13 Peaks – A 113km (6600m) challenge on Table Mountain. Record the time that it takes to tag (visit) 13 iconic peaks on Table Mountain. To be completed at the end of August 2022.
- Indoor Rowing – Rowing 100km on an indoor Concept 2 rowing ergometer. To be completed in September 2022.
- Freedom Swim – A 7.4 – 11km swim from Robben Island to Big Bay Beach in Bloubergstrand. With or without a wetsuit. Ingrid plans to do this with a group of 10 women. To be completed in October 2022.
- Drakensberg Grand Traverse – A 210 km (8000m ascent) single stage, self-sufficient and self-navigated race across the Drakensberg Mountain range bordering South Africa and Lesotho. To be completed in November 2022.
- Munga Mountain Bike Race and Cape Point SurfSki – The Munga Mountain Race will be 1100km from Bloemfontein to Wellington, then on to The Cape Point Surfski Challenge, which is a 52km surfski race (in a double surfski) from Scarborough to Fish Hoek. To be completed in December 2022.
While Ingrid was unable to complete the Berg River Canoe Marathon as part of her Freedom Extreme Triathlon challenge. She gave it her very best attempt. She shared her thoughts on the attempt, which she did alongside David Waddilove.
“We learnt so much. I have always been afraid of failure. I think I am driven by fear of failing. I have now had to embrace it. When I set up my 12×12 challenge up I knew that the Berg would be the ultimate challenge. The risk of failure was huge. I have also had to face a great fear: I am not an extreme adrenaline lover. I will never bungy jump or sky dive. A roller coaster terrifies me. I knew that the Berg would scare me. (The Dusi was terrifying). But, I thought it would be wrong of me to encourage other women to try something hard and scary, if I did not do so myself.
I am feeling disappointed but also grateful that I got a chance to try the Berg. In reality I am just an ordinary woman. I love superhero outfits, but only because I get to pretend to be someone braver and wiser. Maybe this is my journey. A journey of self acceptance. A chance to loose the superhero outfits and just be me.
In the end it is not so much about failing, but how you pick yourself up. I am learning to be kind to myself. I am learning that failure is a chance to learn and grow. This is what I signed up for at the start of my 12×12: a chance to grow and learn about myself.”
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South Africa, We Have SO Much Good News to Share With You!You can follow the rest of Ingrid’s upcoming challenges via her Facebook here. She also shares incredibly candid tellings of her adventures, showing the big, bad and beautiful aspects of being a woman in endurance sports.
Ingrid is currently training for her next big challenge, so be sure to send her words of encouragement for the next one. She has put seven challenges behind her; now she faces five more.
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