South Africa’s very own friendly neighbourhood Spiderman is planning on running 1500km from Pretoria to Luderitz, setting a world record for the longest distance in a superhero costume!
Meet Pretoria’s own Spiderman, better known as Spinnekop (the Afrikaans term) Eric Kevin Nefdt: Estate Agent, Family Man, aspiring Adventurer and Proud Organ Donor.
During August 2018, Spinnekop will attempt to run from Pretoria to Lüderitz, in southern Namibia. He will be accompanied at various stages along the route by the Friends of Spinnekop.
- These include Friend #1 Normie Eckard, who recently completed 7 extreme adventures in 7 days for a little girl living with cerebral palsy. Remarkably Eckard, a former SA U/19 rugby captain and paraplegic of more than 20 years, intends completing 5km per day with his rugby wheelchair.
- Friend #2 AJ van der Walt, formerly weighed in at 282kg until he discovered Prof. Tim Noakes’ “Banting” diet, and the rest as they say is history! “AJ van der Walt is one of the biggest Banting inspirations ever!” “AJ’s weight loss >135kg. Probable African record. Weight loss allowed exercise; not the other way round.” – Tim Noakes https://realmealrevolution.com/real-thinking/banting-for-greatness/
- Friend #3 is Koos Pieterse “the Koosman”, 2-meter tall aspiring SA Strongman who will literally carry Spinnekop on his back over some 10kms. Koos is a larger-than-life character, but truly a gentle giant.
Nefdt is not new to marathons with a “cause”.
He completed the 2017 Comrades Marathon in his Spidey suit to raise awareness for Heart Kids South Africa; after training for over a year in morning rush hour traffic dressed in the familiar superhero costume.
The 1,500km marathon-a-day adventure will be broken into some 40+ days and Nefdt aims to set a world record for the furthest marathon run in a superhero costume.
Why ‘Spinnekop?’
Organ donation is made possible by Heroes – people who voluntarily decide to donate their organs and tissue for transplantation. Nefdt believes that anybody can make a difference. The Spiderman costume is simply a metaphor or symbol that anyone can be a hero and leave a lasting legacy through donation.
Recent statistics reveal that less than 0.2 % of South Africans are organ donors.
“We (I) will run for the Organ Donor Foundation of South Africa, and my mission is to be a hero. We aim to educate people on how easy it is to become an organ and tissue donor. Our idea is to take video-footage using GoPro’s daily and then post a short clip of what we’ve experienced at the end of each day whether desert scenery, wild horses close to extinction, ad-hoc street interviews along the route and footage of the journey’s highs and lows. These Video updates will be shared publicly to Facebook including community pages along the route. The footage will feature ‘street’ interviews and insights from medical professionals and transplant recipients.” said Nefdt.
In the ‘run’ up (no pun intended) Nefdt is giving community talks at schools and campuses, sharing his “Make A Difference” message. To strengthen the campaign, there will be a simple viral challenge and a link to the ODF registration page; think ALS Ice Bucket Challenge, but with greater appeal (more fun and less ice). Eric, together with friends, donor recipients and ‘celebrities’ will promote organ donor awareness and more donor registrations.
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