And the medal for crowd favourite at the Two Oceans Half Marathon goes to these firefighters who ran, uniform and all, for a worthy cause!
Cape Town, South Africa (17 April, 2023) — The Two Oceans Half Marathon was the talk of Cape Town on Sunday as an army of avid runners from all experience levels hit the pavement proudly.
While most runners could be spotted in typical get-up (running shoes, light-weight tops and an extra-dressing of sweat) two stood out inarguably.
Cape Town firefighters, Jermaine Carelse and Renaldo Duncan flew through the marathon in their full fire-fighting gear. In a live-action, blazing version of ‘Where’s Waldo,’ the duo became a crowd-favourite to spot in the sea of pacers.
Why did they dress to the firefighting nines? Well, they were on a journey to raise funds for Non-Profit Organisation, Volunteer Wildfire Services in the Cape. And what better way to raise awareness, than standing out in the best way?
According to Radio 786, Carelse and Duncan sailed in with a time of two hours and 41 minutes and raised over R20 000 for the services dedicated to tackling wildfires.
“There was a little bit of nervousness and obviously the expectation when we heard who all was going to be at the finish line, so you knew, you had to finish this marathon!” —Jermaine Carelse.
Carelse went on to say that a lot of people congratulated the pair for putting in the legwork not for themselves as individuals but for such a worthy cause.
“Today started for me at 12 o’clock last night because that’s when I woke up, I was so excited I couldn’t sleep…but it was such an amazing experience.”—Renaldo Duncan.
Duncan also shared that even when his legs were fed up, both the Two Oceans Half Marathon crowd and the cause kept him going.
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Volunteer Wildfire Services relies solely on donations to provide life-saving services should wildfires run wild. With efforts like Carelse and Duncan’s, their job becomes a little less stressful and a lot easier to tackle.
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