By Marike Carli
In June, as we celebrate National Blood Donor Month, we aim to raise awareness about the importance of voluntary blood donation. We also celebrate and thank blood donors for their selfless act of saving lives. We partnered with myrun on Sunday, 25 June 2023, at various events around the Western Cape.
Weekly myrun events, are free, timed and safe and it brings like-minded people together, regardless of fitness level. Routes are 2.5km and 5km; participants can complete them at their own pace. One of the basic donor criteria is that blood donors should be in good general health in order to donate blood. Physical activity is vital to a healthy lifestyle, making this a great partnership. We encouraged everyone to dress in red or any hero attire to fit the theme – be a local hero and donate blood. On the day, we distributed red capes to all participants to symbolise that all blood donors are heroes.
Weather depending, these events are held every Sunday at Blaauwklippen, Bloemendal Wine Estate, Blouberg Beachfront, Imhoff Farm, Paardevlei, Knorhoek Estate, Elgin United Church, Groot Brak, Carmel Coastal Retreat, Portland Manor and Hart and Bosch Village. We were present at 5 of these events, and participants had the chance to interact with us, find information about their closest blood donation clinic, and we had Blood Buddy treasure hunts at these events.
Despite the cold winter weather, we had a great turnout at all the events. Participants came in their best hero outfits, Batwoman, Mrs Incredible and Ironman all ran a 5km race, we even had super dogs going for their brisk morning walk! We also had 8 fitness-fundi’s and social media influencers that joined in the fun. Thank you, Amber Linley, Redaa Dollie, Nadine Smallberg, Shanika Opperman, Chanel Cronje, Kia Butler, Chenel Kruger, and Liney Bezuidenhout.
We want to thank everyone who joined in the fun and helped raise awareness. Click on the links above to find the myrun facebook pages for more information and fun photos of the events.
