Two friends from Howick in KwaZulu-Natal, Matthew Murray and Charles Raw set off from Nico Malan Bridge in Port Alfred at the crack of dawn on Saturday to take on an epic charity 1,222km run to raise funds for an impoverished school.
The “sports-mad” pair who will finish off their marathon challenge at Cape Town’s Beau Constantia in the Western Cape winelands in 35 days’ time, aim to raise R2.35m in their “Running Wild 2025” campaign to help improve conditions at Velakukhanya Primary School in Northern KZN’s KwaNgwenya community.
The two runners who are running an average full marathon per day, set off from Port Alfred at 5am for the first leg of 37km to Boknes Strand surrounded by their former teachers at Howick High and family friends turned “seconds” Colleen and Martin Gardner who will provide support on the road for 10 days.
Next to them for moral support were Kowie Striders’ Mike Nunan, Shannen Kethro, Ian Robertson and Alex Weed who trundled off with the excited runners up to the Southwell turn-off before waving them goodbye.
Fast forward four days in to the marathon adventure on Tuesday, Murray told Talk of the Town after completing the day’s 39km run from Colchester to Gqeberha’s Bluewater Bay in over 30 degree conditions, he had walked 25km that morning due to an achilles heel injury. Day 5’s run yesterday kicked off from Summerstrand to Seaview.
The pair who are running an average of 40km per day over the 35 days “were feeling the strain at times, but otherwise fully focused and committed to their task”.
“I picked up an Achilles injury which I am worried about because I walked 25km of the route today (Tuesday) … while Charlie said ‘don’t worry I’ll stay ahead, just keep going mate’. I tried to run, but when I put my heel on the ground I had some pain. Not sure how I will cope tomorrow (Wednesday) but am sure if I am walking I am fine.” The runners set off every day from their scheduled start at 5am.
“The extreme heat doesn’t make it any easier but we are making sure with the help of our seconders that we are taking in liquids all the time to make sure we stay fully hydrated.”
Day 2 on Saturday saw them cover 40.8km from Boknes Strand to Rosedale, taking in a lot of trail running to avoid the busy N2 before finishing a 35km a stint from Rosedale to Colchester on Monday’s Day 3.
Murray said that unfortunately Raw could not make it to the interview as he was taking more than just a nap to aid his recovery.
Murray who finished a business degree at University of Stellenbosch and is an experienced guide and game ranger having undergone extensive training at Phinda Private Game Reserve, admits that sometimes the question had popped up in his head as to the extent of the task they had taken on.
“When you are taking strain … of course these questions do pop up from time to time, but we are fully focused on our challenge and making a difference and together with the support we are receiving it keeps us going,” said Murray
Murray says the run could not have been taken on at the beginning without the help of two “fantastic people” the Gardners, who taught both runners at some stage at Howick High.
“Their support has been fantastic … both are staying by our side for 10 days into Tsitsikamma and assisting us with our daily needs on the road … another group will take over from them once finished.”
Murray and Raw who both grew up in the Natal Midlands have been inseparable from a young age and their love for sports brought them even closer together. Raw who obtained an honours degree in business management at Rhodes in 2013, moved back to Howick and worked at a timber operation before heading it up.
“Charlie and I come a long way … we thought about how we could make a difference in our communities and came up with this idea. We knew how steep a challenge this would be, but we really wanted to make a difference and to help this impoverished school in our area.
“Being close friends does help; we were very excited in the build-up of course and now that we are running this epic marathon for charity, there have been periods of quiet on the road and other times where we would just talk about things and life, our experiences and share a couple of laughs of course … it really helps with such a challenge we are taking on.”
A motivating factor says Murray is having wife, Sandra and their newborn son with him, while Charlie’s wife, Michaela and daughter “will be joining us soon”.
The duo’s former teacher, Colleen Gardner, who headed up the sports department at the school, said it was a “huge privilege” for her and husband, Martin, to fill in the gap as seconds.
“I felt a bit anxious yesterday when we checked on the initial route … so that was a worry; but told them to be sensible and to get right off the road if they needed to and tomorrow (Sunday) we are looking at them to have a bit of an off-road run to stay off the busy N2.
“They are two confident boys … we are just going to take it one day at a time and the food and hydration will be crucial. It’s very, very hot on the road, so the rest after about four to four-and-a-half hours of running is very important for recovery purposes,” said Gardner
Avid runner and Kowie Striders’ chairperson Mike Nunan said getting up early to help motivate Raw and Murray had certainly been worth the effort.
“It is always so inspiring when folk give up their time, effort and resources to do something as difficult as running over 1000km in 35 days so that they can help those less fortunate,” said Nunan.
“As the local running club, where Matt & Charles started their challenge, it was both important and appropriate that Kowie Striders made an effort to support them. Wishing them fair weather and happy feet. Long may they run.”
At the time of going to press on Wednesday, Murray who was 4km from their Seaview finish on day 5 outside Gqeberha, said via his mobile phone he was “in a bit of pain” but moving forward.
“I walked again a bit of course … today I will see a physio … not sure how serious or not it is, but it seems like just a bit of tendonitis in the heel area though. Otherwise ok and doing average 7mins per km.”
Today’s scheduled day 6 over 37km is from Blue Horizon Bay to Jeffrey’s Bay Zebra Lodge.
Readers can follow the runners’ progress on Facebook @runningwild2025 or on Instagram @runningwild.2025
- This article was first published in Talk of the Town, January , 2025. The newspaper serving the communities of Ndlambe and the Sunshine Coast, with a weekly wrap of Makhanda news, is available at stores from early on Thursdays.
