With a host of international marathon medals hanging on his mantelpiece, Irafaan ‘Fanie’ Abrahams plans to take on four massive races this year, as part of his Ultimate Five Challenge. His running campaign kicks off this weekend with the Two Oceans marathon. On Wednesday night, Fanie and a team of 50 amateur runners received their running kits for the popular marathon.

“It’s a group people who are doing the half and full marathon, some of them for the very first time. What better way than getting people running and doing it for a great cause. The idea came when we got 20 cyclists to dedicate their Cape Argus Cycle Tour ride to Islamic Relief by pledging to donate R5000. Last night, we got our runners to do the same,” he said.

The Ultimate Five Challenge stems from the enthusiastic runners passion for sport and education through his successful Million Rand Challenge.

“When the Million Rand Challenge started five years ago, the idea was to run an international marathon, and we gave ourselves five years to raise a million rand. Alhamduliilah, the success of the project came to the fore when after three years, we raised over a million rand. Up to now, we standing on over R1.5 million.”

To celebrate the fifth anniversary of the project, Fanie and his team decided to up their game and make the project more challenging. That’s where the Ultimate Five Challenge came from.

“We decided to take on five major events, and put our bodies to the test. And most importantly, it’s for a good cause,” he said.

It started with the prestigious Cape Town Cycle Tour in March, which saw Fanie and a team from Islamic Relief taking a break from the running to hit their bicycles.

“We had no influence in shortening the route because of the 5 challenges!” he joked.

“But in hindsight, it was a really good idea given the devastation caused by the fires across the city.”

This weekend, Fanie puts on his running gear to take on the Two Oceans Ultra marathon – a gruesome 56 kilometres stretching across the beautiful Mother City.

There’s barely time to breathe after the Two Oceans, as a week from now, Fanie jets off to participate in the the oldest marathon in the world, Boston Marathon, on Monday 20 April. If this is not enough, Fanie ‘hits the ground running’ on his return back home, to get ready for the Comrades Marathon on Sunday 31st May.

In between juggling teaching, his social activities with youth and his volunteer work at Islamic Relief, there will be no rest for Fanie as he prepares for the New York Marathon in November this year. The fearless runner will be doing both the New York and Boston races for the second time.

“We decided on the New York Marathon as we would like to end the fifth anniversary, where it all started back in 2011.”

While humanitarian NGO Islamic Relief has been the sponsor for the past two years, it is also the main beneficiary of the project this year. Through the Ultimate Five Challenge, Abrahams hopes to raise R1 million for IRSA’s education and orphans project.

Abrahams paid tribute to Islamic Relief and his entire support team for their assistance over the past five years.

“Even though I run alone in the international races, there is a group of people behind me who make this project work. This project was never about me, but rather about the community’s effort.” VOC