Two Cape Town firefighters went above and beyond the call of duty as they completed the Two Oceans Half Marathon while wearing all of their firefighting gear – alles in the name of charity.
Jermaine Carelse and Renaldo Duncan got heat of another kind when they participated in the 21km race yesterday, while helping to raise money for the Volunteer Wildfire Services (VWS).
The VWS played a crucial role during the devastating Table Mountain fire in 2021. Carelse and Duncan finished the race at around 9.20am with an unofficial time of two hours, 41 minutes and 58 seconds.
According to Jermaine, it was an amazing experience to participate in the event again. They previously ran together in 2017.
“The support alongside the road carried us through. The fire gear weighed far more than from when we started, the sweat was absorbed in the inner lining of our fire gear,” he explains.
Carelse says that despite the difficulties their focus was on finishing the race in aid of the VWS: “As usual Southern Cross was an unavoidable obstacle; however, we planned accordingly.
“At one point I stopped, had to take off my t-shirt and wring it out. The last 400m was absolutely amazing, knowing we are finishing and our goal was achieved.
“But, the focus should solely be on VWS, they are the real heroes, volunteering their time to extinguish fires, especially during the peak fire season.”
Renaldo tells the Daily Voice he was proud to finish the race despite being ill.
“I’m a bit sick so I ran the race with some medication in my system. The atmosphere was great, the message was out there that we were not doing it for our credit but for the Volunteer Wildfire Services,” he adds.
VWS CEO Claire Lötter says that they are grateful for this kwaai initiative.
“We are amazed and honoured that our friends and colleagues at the City’s fire and rescue service would take on such an endeavour to raise awareness to raise funds for us, we are super grateful,” she adds.
She says each volunteer firefighter’s basic PPE and training, costs the VWS about R6 000.
“We rely solely on the donations from the public and corporates to keep our organisation going so basically all the funds raised would go towards maintenance, and upkeep.”
As much as R20 800 was raised by Jermaine and Renaldo, but Lotter says this isn’t the final amount.
JP Smith, the City’s Mayco member for Safety and Security, had high praise for the brave firefighters.
He adds: “An amazing feat that has earned the respect of all and they have demonstrated the dedication and endurance of what it truly means to be a firefighter.”
byron.lukas@inl.co.za