Community support makes run more Comrades-ly

There’s little about the annual Comrades Marathon that’s particularly Jewish, however if participants want to have a Shabbos and Jewish experience, there are a people who make sure it happens.

Chabad of Umhlanga hosted a Shabbos weekend for this year’s Comrades Jewish families that includes Friday night dinner, shul services, and a Saturday brocha for runners and their families. There were more than 50 runners at the Friday dinner on 6 June. Rabbi Shlomo Wainer invited a guest speaker, Barry Holland, an athlete who had completed 50 consecutive Comrades races, to speak at the dinner. He gave advice and words of wisdom before the gruelling marathon.

Wainer has created a Comrades tradition of honouring first-time Comrades runners with an aliya at the Saturday morning Shabbos service.

He and his crew of volunteers have for the past 27 years braved the icy pre-dawn chill on Comrades Day to enable Jewish runners to lay tefillin en route. Knowing that runners don’t want to slow down and risk losing time, this year, young boys helped put on tefillin while athletes kept running.

At the Chabad tefillin pitstop, male runners on Sunday 8 June also have a chance to give tzedakah and get a motivational and strength-inducing hug from Wainer before continuing on their way to complete the last 30km of the run. This pitstop, along with the Malka Ella stands positioned throughout the route, keep Jewish runners motivated. At the Malka Ella stands, there are often energy inducing snacks as well as electrolytes to help prevent dehydration.

Many Jewish runners use the Comrades run to raise funds for the Malka Ella Fertility Fund, which supports couples battling to have children with fertility treatment, genetic testing, surrogacy, and adoption procedures.

First-time Comrades runner Ben Diner said having the support of Malka Ella and Chabad of Umhlanga made the race a lot more bearable for those participating. “They do take care of us,” he said. “They realise the pain we runners are going through, and the support we give to the fund. They want to make it worthwhile.”