African stars shine on RunForAfrika

The South African runner Rehan Greeff has finished the first of his attempt to complete three triathlons in three countries in six days to raise funds for hungry children

The stars came out to a fitting finish of the first day of the RunForAfrika TriChallenge on Monday, 27 June as Rehan Greeff completed the South African leg at the NG Moederkerk in Wellington, just outside Cape Town.

The impressive white steeple of this historic church is a salute to his dad Frikkie who started and ended his career there and who passed away a year ago on this day.

Rehan was met by his proud mom, Marlene, who wept at his achievement, telling her son to dream even bigger than he already has.

For Rehan, the highlight of the arduous day was his family’s involvement. His sister Anmari has been involved from the start, doing all his publicity, and his brothers Stefan and Cobus were there right to the end, accompanying him on the marathon section of the triathlon.

The day started before sunrise with a freezing 3.8km swim in the dam at the Bosman Family Vineyard in Wellington, followed by a 180km cycle with stops at ForAfrika-supported pre-schools on the way.

Children greeted their hero with hand-drawn posters and cheers and were rewarded with gold medals, slung over their necks by Rehan himself.

Mothers, teachers and other members from the community all came out to greet him as he came past on his bike. He spent about 20 minutes at each spot, chatting to the children and asking questions about the centres before heading off.

The last 10km of the trip were tough and Rehan really had to dig deep in order to finish, but the picture of African children who need his help – and commemorating his dad – kept him going.

“The privilege was ours to host such an amazing family and support team. Thank you and travel safe. The Western Cape team salutes you,” said Adel Terblanche, ForAfrika’s community development officer in the province at the finish.

“An Epsom Salts bath helped soothe his aching muscles,” said Carel Meganck, ForAfrika’s United Kingdom manager who has been on his support team.

“This morning he was the first person up and back to his chirpy self!”

After a visit to ForAfrika's projects in Khayelitsha, the team headed straight for the airport to start another long haul to Uganda. They hit the lake running soon after landing in Kisoro early Wednesday morning. The Ugandan support team was there to meet them and is eager to show off their country and the work that ForAfrika is doing there.

This is the fifth personal challenge that Rehan has given himself since he was “miraculously healed” in 2017 from multiple knee injuries.

Rehan, a chartered accountant now living in the United Kingdom, is the biggest individual fundraiser in aid of ForAfrika (previously known as JAM). For the past few years, he has set himself personal quests under the title of “Run Forest Run” – in recognition of his childhood nickname, which he was given because he had to wear metal leg braces just like the film character Forrest Gump.

After being healed of his knee injuries during a CRC church service, he decided to give thanks by taking on these quests in support of vulnerable children. In 2021, he raised a whopping £50,000 (almost R1,000,000) on his mission to run the equivalent of seven marathons in one go; the furthest he had ever run.

He completed his 300km run around Greater London in aid of the organisation’s #zerohunger campaign in 49 hours and 17 minutes and set a new record for the route in the process.

This year, he is taking it all a huge step further – his “TriChallenge” with a total distance of 678km in one week in South Africa, Uganda and the UK. He chose these countries because he was born in South Africa where malnutrition rates are on the rise; Uganda because ForAfrika is working with refugees there whose lives have been devastated by war and climate change; and England, because it’s his new home.

Please help Rehan reach his goal by donating today! Visit forafrika.org/runforafrika/