Together with world renowned extreme athletes Ryan Sandes and Tatum Prins, the JAG Foundation recently hosted its first-ever running camp. Held at the Chrysalis Academy in Tokai, 26 children from the ProNutro JAGRunners programme, a running initiative implemented by the JAG Foundation to empower and equip youth in disadvantaged communities in the Western Cape, had the privilege of attending a trail running camp with world class athletes.
Known as the world’s best ultra marathon runner, Ryan Sandes has become a household name within the global sports fraternity whilst fellow athlete Tatum Prins is known internationally as a top adventure racer – both leading athletes in their respective disciplines, Sandes and Prins have a desire to see talented youngsters achieve through sports.
The camp was made possible thanks to a generous sponsorship from Salomon and Velocity Sports Lab in partnership with the JAG Sports and Education Foundation. Each of the 26 children were given a goody bag with kit and shoes from Salomon and Velocity Sports Lab, watches and bands from Imazine and the all important headlamps for their late night run from Black Diamond.
Starting on the first day of the Soccer World Cup our young runners did not miss out on all the soccer excitement. Ryan and Tatum created a very clever treasure hunt around the soccer theme to kick the camp off, followed by the children watching the opening Bafana match against Mexico.
On Saturday Ryan took the kids on a 22km run/ hike up to the mast on the Constantiaberg Mountain in Tokai as a team work exercise. Ryan and Tatum split the kids into groups – each aptly named after the Group-A soccer teams – with each team having to work together and more importantly stay together on their run up the mountain.
“It was great to see how the kids worked as a team on this run, we had the stronger guys helping the smaller girls, everyone focused on their strengths and not their weaknesses,” says Ryan.
“Many of the runners have not gone further than 5km previously so it was a great achievement for all of them to run 22km on a trail and over tough mountain climbs. Even though you cold see that at times a lot of them were struggling not once did they want to give up. They showed a tremendous courage and a team spirit, which is what the ProNutro JAGRunners programme is set to achieve.” says Kathleen Shuttleworth, ProNutroJAGRunners programme manager.
Tatum’s knowledge of the mountains and her experience in the adventure sports industry added a great twist into all the activities set out for the kids and made them that much more exciting and challenging. “It was a real “feel sponsored by Salomon and Velocity Sports, good” weekend. We had a load of fun and a 1000 laughs! No shortage of good humour in that group or talent for that matter,” says Tatum.
On Sunday morning children were split into two groups headed by Ryan and Tatum for the 10km trail challenge. The faster group lead the pack by marking the route for the slower group which had to find the markers and get to the finish on time. The camp finished with a feedback session from the kids themselves. What stood out the most for the majority of the kids was the team work and learning to work together and help eachother.
The camp was a phenomenal success and had highlighted the simple power of sport in creating the change in young people’s lives.
Some of the activities that the kids did this past weekend include:
• 2km time trial runs
• An 8km sprint for the faster runners
• Boot-camp styled aerobic workouts
• Treasure hunts
• Adventure night races
• Fun skit plays
Ryan Sandes and Tatum Prins are one of our JAG AllStars honorary members. If like them you have a real zest for life and you believe in power of sport you should become our JAG ALLSTARS member! More info
To view more images from ProNutro JAGRunners camp join their facebook group
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