Chaeli Mycroft and Anita Engelbrecht have made history by being the first ever wheelchair athletes to participate in the 91st Comrades Marathon on Sunday (29 May).
The athletes, along with their support runners, crossed the finish line in just a little over 10 hours and 50 minutes. The pair received bronze medals upon finishing within the 11-hour mark.
Their challenge to the rule that no wheelchairs or mechanical aids are allowed in the race was approved by Athletics South Africa on 18 April.
Chaeli, who was born with cerebral palsy and is a spastic quadriplegic, says she was just glad she could set the precedence for disabled athletes after months of back and forth discussions between themselves as well as the race organisers.
“We are so excited because we have been fighting for our right to participate since February,” she said before the race.
“Being able to be the first wheelchair athletes to participate in the ultimate human race is an honour and an incredible thing too,” Mycroft added.
Team Beastie was made up of Mycroft and her support runners, Brett Glen and James Chevallier. Anita and Hilton Murray were the team Blitz runners. The two also ran in order to raise funds for their inclusive sports charity, Chaeli Sports & Recreation Club.
Mycroft finished with a time of 10:51:45 and ranked 8 427 overall. Engelbrecht finished the race in a time of 10:57:51 with an overall ranking of 9 147.
Chaeli’s mother, Zelda Mycroft, says it was a special race for the girls and they proved their point to the organisers after battling to be accepted to participate in the ultramarathon in recent months.
“Chaeli just said the other athletes were nothing short of spectacular. It was an incredible effort and they acknowledged that an endurance race is an endurance race and she was having to battle along with the best of them. Knowing the organiser’s eyes were on them, they were running to secure future wheelchair athletes’ chance to participate in this race as well.”
Her mother is originally from Bloemfontein but the 21-year-old Mycroft grew up in Cape Town. She is registered for an Honours degree in Social Policy and Management at the University of Cape Town. She had a customised, three-wheeled wheelchair to complete the race with and it had its first test-run in the Cape Town 12 ONERUN a few weeks back.
This wouldn’t be Mycroft’s first such feat as she became the first female quadriplegic to reach the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2015. Other milestones she has completed include taking part in the Cape Town Cycle Tour over the past four years, partaking in the 2015 17,2km World Run and being a bronze medallist in the Wheelchair Dancing World Cup in 2016. – Moeketsi Mogotsi
moeketsi@centralmediagroup.co.za