Pretoria resident, Gideon Swart, will be lining up to race the 75km 2022 K-Way SA MaxiRace Cape Winelands presented by Banhoek Chilli Oil in association with Yenn Health and On Shoes, not simply for the love of running, but to raise awareness for the plague of human trafficking that is taking place in South Africa.
“I will be running to raise awareness for the work Brave to Love are doing in the human trafficking arena,” says Gideon Swart. “Their mission is to rescue, recover, rehabilitate, restore and re-integrate women and girls that have become victims of sex trafficking in the sex trade in our country, our continent and our world. This is done through providing medical, psychological, emotional, physical, and mental support to those women that have been vulnerable and ended up as slaves in the sex trade.”
Currently in South Africa, human trafficking brings in more money than the illegal drug trade, and is showing no signs of slowing down, with girls as young as 10 being sold into slavery, many times by their own families!
Having always been active, Gideon wanted to use his sports training as a tool for good. It was from this that he decided to use sporting challenges as a way to raise awareness for important issues. In April this year he was on the start line for the 2022 Ironman African Championship, having never cycled further than 100km or run further than 30km at a time!
“I love trail running, so when I saw MaxiRace Cape Winelands, I knew this would be my next event!” explains Swart. “I have never run a trail running race, nor ever run 75km on a trail route, but I am super excited to not only take part but also continue to spread the awareness of the work being done by Brave to Love.” Gideon is hoping to finish the route in under 12hrs.
“I hope that through this we are able to spread awareness and raise funds for Brave to Love, so that they can continue with their awesome work,” says Swart. “I don’t want anyone to live in fear, but I want people to know what is going on around them so that they are able to protect their children and loved ones.”
If you would like to find out more about Brave to Love please visit https://bravetolove.org/
If you would like to contribute financially to Brave to Love:
Brave to Love
First National Bank
Account Number 62784156690
Branch Code 252145
Swift Code FIRNZAJJXXX
Your Reference – wildcactuscafe
The K-Way MaxiRace Cape Winelands presented by Banhoek Chilli Oil takes place on 1st and 2nd of October 2022 in Stellenbosch and Franschhoek. A few entries for each of the distances are still available at http://maxirace.co.za/
