KNYSNA NEWS - Knysna Marathon Club hosted the 2018 Momentum Knysna Forest Marathon charity handover function at the marathon clubhouse at Loerie Park on 28 July.
Club president and Forest Marathon race director Leon Brown did the handover and reported that despite very tough economic conditions the club surpassed the lofty target of R1-million in charitable payouts to Knysna, to reach R1.09-million.
While the club makes payments to a number of charities and institutions that assist in the staging of the event, there are also payments made to charities selected on a yearly basis to benefit from the direct donations made by the runners. For 2018, Die Werkswinkel, Knysna Child Welfare, Hands & Heart and Knysna NSRI each received payments of R30 410. The charities that were selected to receive the runners’ cash donations for the 2019 event will be Vermont and Loeriehof old age homes, Knysna Epilepsy and Sinethemba Youth Centre.
Donated goods filled 6 trucks
The 2 000 blankets that Momentum provide for the runners at the race start in the forest as well as the warm clothing that the runners donate, filled six large tip trucks and this was distributed while the race was still under way in the surrounding communities.
Brown also paid a special tribute to Blue Planet Power for providing off-grid light solutions to the race start (meaning the noisy generators could be turned off), the various municipal departments involved with the staging of the event, Allsound and the Knysna police, the landowners who allow the race to take place – PG Bison, MTO, Simola Estate and SANParks – as well as Knysna High School for providing the main venue at a reduced rate.
Attendees of the charity function took time out for a photo opportunity. Photo: Leon Scholz
The Knysna taxi associations also received praise from the runners for providing a good service to get the runners to the race start on time and the good fun vibe created by the drivers. (Almost 200 local taxies were involved in transporting the 8 500 runners to the race start in the forest, earning an injection of R181 820 for the taxi service on race day.
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