A Mitchells Plain school teacher completed his 50th half-marathon on 30 December 2021, capping off a year of races in which he helped raise over R200 000 for school shoes.
Irfaan Abrahams, a teacher at Liesbeeck Primary School and member of Lace Up for Change, took part in the run at the Sea Point Promenade and was joined by over 60 other avid runners.
“The day was just so surreal, the amount of support we got from people that have been following us throughout the 50 for 50 school shoe challenge,” he says.
“People came from as far as Johannesburg and Kimberley to come and run with and we had a lot of people who came out to picnic on the grass and show their support.
“Our aim is to get school shoes for every child in the primary schools from poorer communities all over the Western Cape and right now we have raised enough to help just over 20 schools.
“We are still raising funds till the end of this month, so we are confident that we will get enough funds to reach our target of 50 schools.”
With over R200 000 already raised, Irfaan, 51, says he and his organisation have already earmarked the schools that will benefit, however he did not want to elaborate until all the funds are raised.
“A lot of businesses out there only donate once they see the end product and we are confident that we will attract more, while we have a number of people out there that pledged money that must still be paid,” says the Bayview resident.
“On Thursday, we looked at our watches and saw that we ran 25 000 steps and we just thought to ourselves that every step was worth it because it will allow us to put brand-new shoes on every child at the school we chose.
Irfaan added that on the day of the final half-marathon, over 50 new pairs were donated by a local sports club and members of the public.
“As part of the challenge, we asked people to give R150, because that is how much we need to get each child a new pair of shoes, but on the day we got brand-new pairs which of course we could not turn down.”
To help Irfaan, can contact him on 084 283 9977.