The six charities that benefit from the CMA’s charity drive are the Durban & Pietermaritzburg Community Chests, PinkDrive, Sports Trust, Starfish, Wildlands and World Vision, who through the Comrades Marathon fundraising platform and their own efforts, raised more than R4.6 million.

The Comrades Charity Drive was started in 1999 as a means to give back to South Africa’s needy and improve the social and environmental landscape. More than R20-million has been raised over the past 10 years.

2015 saw new heights being reached in the Amabeadibeadi and Race4charity fundraising campaigns. We are delighted to announce that a total of R4.660,340 was raised collectively by Comrades runners and the charities themselves.

A total of 338 runners signed up for the cause to support the Race4Charity in 2015. Together they raised an incredible R2.357,593, which is an amazing 77% increase from 2014. 

261 of these runners raised more than R5000 each and qualified to start in the ‘CC’ batch on race day. Runners were also extremely generous with donations with their entry fees. This amount increased by 48% to R479,760 compared to that of 2014. 

The Top Donor was Carel Nolte who raised R153,800 for the PinkDrive. All in all, there was a combined increase of R1.18 million more than what was raised by runners in 2014.

CMA Chairperson, Macdonald Chitja says, ‘We thank every runner who so selflessly worked towards the benefit of our charities. Training for the ultra-marathon is hard enough, let alone to go out there and drum up support for our fundraising initiatives. We are very grateful to you.’

CMA Board Member, Alen Hattingh says, ‘As the Comrades Marathon, we pride ourselves on doing more for our charity drive as well as for the local community via our CSI Programme. The CMA has undertaken several projects in this regard, namely: the annual Greater Edendale Race incorporating the AIMS Children’s Series Race, the KZNA Relay Challenge, the Underprivileged Runners Programme, building an outdoor gym in Pietermaritzburg as well as committing to our Staff’s CSI initiatives. It is deeply fulfilling to be involved in any such way to engage with and empower our communities.’ 

CMA Vice Chairperson, Cheryl Winn says, ‘It is the CMA’s intention that we maximise our fundraising role through the Comrades-Amabeadibeadi charity initiative. We are proud of our status as the South African sporting event which contributes more than any other to charity. We warmly welcome the support and contributions of all Comrades runners, our sponsors and partners; and the nation at large.’