Visitors to the Old Mutual stand at the Comrades Marathon Expo, which took place at the Durban Exhibition Centre from May 28 to 30, supported Wildlands and their various rhino conservation projects.
The Old Mutual & Wildlands stand at the Comrades Expo included the ground-breaking Oculus Rift, a three-dimensional immersive video which makes use of cutting edge technology to give visitors a vivid glimpse into what the iconic race entails. Old Mutual has combined this technology with running guidance from marathon legend Bruce Fordyce. Once inside the world of Oculus Rift, Comrades runners are joined by Fordyce as he gives essential advice on the Big Five Hills that formed part of this year’s up run.
There were fun opportunities to donate at the stand (involving a life-size rhino sculpture that needed to be coloured in), merchandise that flew off the shelves and also plenty of information available on the Old Mutual Wild Series endurance events for runners. The Wild Series events take place in various protected areas around the country to raise funds to conserve endangered species or protect that specific habitat (www.wildseries.co.za).
Wildlands made in excess of R42 000 through merchandise sales and all monies raised will go towards their three rhino conservation projects – namely, Project Rhino Tracker, Aerial Support and Investigations and Prosecutions.
On race day, Sunday May 31, Wildlands hosted the last refreshment station for the runners in Alexandra Road, Pietermaritzburg (1.9km from the finish), where entertainment was provided by Umlazi’s Prince Mshiyeni Choir, one of the top performing choirs from the Old Mutual National Choir Festival (NCF).
Wildlands also had 63 registered runners under the Amabeadibeadi Race4Charity campaign, who raised R300 000 for their rhino conservation projects. They were spotted on the route in their unique, bright green RUN FOR RHINO running kits.
Wildlands was also responsible for all the recycling from halfway (Drummond) to the finish, a project they have undertaken for the past two years in an effort to make Comrades a “green” marathon. The Wildlands recyling team collected just under 50 000kgs of waste and this will be sorted and distributed from their depot based in Howick.
“Comrades and Old Mutual are both very environmentally conscious organisations,” said Lauren van Nijkerk, Deputy Director of Marketing at Wildlands. “We would not have been able to elevate our brand presence or our fundraising efforts without their support, and them sharing a vision for activating in a sustainable manner helps us tremendously.”
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)