This year’s Mandela Remembrance Walk and Run will once again take the form of a hybrid event, due to Covid-19 restrictions.
It will take place on Sunday 5 December, as it commemorates Madiba’s passing on that date eight years ago.
The event, which honours and remembers iconic global statesperson Nelson Mandela, will take place in physical form at Tshwane’s Union Buildings for a restricted number of 1000 people, with the virtual form open to participants globally.
Entrants have the options of a virtual five-kilometre walk or 10 and 21-kilometre run.
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“Madiba was of course a global citizen, and it’s a bittersweet irony that the Covid global pandemic has allowed participants from all across the world to take part in this very special event honouring his life,” says Sello Hatang, CEO of the Nelson Mandela Foundation. “This period has called on everyone to continue to be resilient and brave and we hope that as many people as possible will choose, safely, to end their year with us at this year’s Mandela Remembrance Walk and Run. It is always an event we eagerly look out for on the calendar and we encourage people to register.”
The Nelson Mandela Foundation hosts the annual event in partnership with the Gauteng Provincial Government, with all proceeds going to support the work of the foundation, which continues the social justice work of Madiba.
Participants who choose to take part virtually can walk or run in their local surroundings, or at any number of sites which are significant to Madiba’s life – around the Union Buildings, to the Victor Verster Prison in Paarl where Madiba was released, Robben Island, or the Grand Parade in Cape Town, where he made his first speech as a free person.
Or people can run to Parliament, or in Soweto, Mvezo in the Eastern Cape, Houghton in Johannesburg, or the Howick site where he was captured in KwaZulu-Natal.
Entry fees for the Mandela Remembrance Walk and Run are as follows:
10 km – R60
5,10 or 21km virtually – R60
Runners from the rest of the African continent (all distances) – $5
International runners from the rest of the world (all distances) – $10
Participants for the walk and run can enter online at www.mandelawalkandrun.com.