The Incredible Marathon-A-Day Superhero: 1500km to Create Awareness for Organ Donation.
Meet Pretoria’s own Spiderman, better known as Spinnekop (the Afrikaans term) Eric Kevin Nefdt: Estate Agent, Family Man, aspiring Adventurer and Proud Organ Donor.
During August 2018, Spinnekop will attempt to run from Pretoria to Lüderitz, in southern Namibia, accompanied at various stages along the route by the Friends of Spinnekop.
Normie Eckard; recently completed 7 extreme adventures in 7 days for a little girl living with cerebral palsy. This former SA U/19 rugby captain and paraplegic of over 20 years, will complete 5km per day with his rugby wheelchair for the 100Miles4Jesus campaign. Along with his driver he will accompany Eric throughout the trip).
AJ van der Walt, formerly weighed 282kg before discovering Banting. “AJ van der Walt is one of the biggest Banting inspirations ever!” “AJ’s weight loss >135kg. Probable African record. Weight loss allowed exercise; not the other way round.” – Prof Tim Noakes https://realmealrevolution.com/realthinking/banting–for–greatness/
Koos Pieterse “the Koosman”, 2-meter tall aspiring SA Strongman who will literally carry Spinnekop on his back over some 10kms.
Nefdt is not new to marathons with a “cause”. He completed the 2017 Comrades Marathon in his Spidey suit to raise awareness for Heart Kids South Africa; after training for over a year in morning rush hour traffic dressed in the familiar superhero costume. The 1,500km marathon-a-day adventure will be broken into some 40+ days and Nefdt aims to set a world record for the furthest marathon run in a superhero costume.
Why ‘Spinnekop?’
Organ donation is made possible by Heroes – people who voluntarily decide to donate their organs and tissue for transplantation. The Spiderman costume is simply a metaphor or symbol that anyone can make a difference, be a hero and leave a lasting legacy through donation. Recent statistics reveal that less than 0.2 % of South Africans are organ donors. https://www.health24.com/Medical/Heart/Heart–transplants/shocking–less–than–02–of–sa–are–organdonors–20170418
“We (I) will run for the Organ Donor Foundation of South Africa, and my mission is to be a hero. We aim to educate people on how easy it is to become an organ and tissue donor. Short clips of the journey’s highs and lows will be shared publicly, and will also feature ‘street’ interviews.” said Nefdt.
In the build-up Nefdt is giving community talks sharing his “Make A Difference” message. To strengthen the campaign, Nefdt together with friends of Spinnekop, donor recipients and ‘celebrities’ will promote organ donor awareness and more donor registrations via a simple viral challenge and a link to the ODF registration page.
