SARAY Khumalo is set to take part in the 18th running of the South African leg of the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge
The corporate 5,6km run/walk will take place at the Wanderers Club in Illovo on Thursday, 30 March.
The Laureus Ambassador, award winning mountaineer, explorer, Guinness World Record holder and the first black African woman to summit Mount Everest and ski to the South Pole, Saray Khumalo said she was looking forward to take part in the challenge.
“Participating in the challenge as one of the Laureus South Africa ambassadors is something very close to my heart.
“In my passion as an extreme mountaineer, using sport to make a difference is an extension of what Laureus does. I am so happy to be one of the ambassadors who will be participating on the day,” she said.
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“I always say that I’m an 'accidental mountaineer' because what started out as a me climbing Kilimanjaro in 2012 with a group of people to raise money for a small project - Kids Haven in Benoni - became a real eye-opener. When we went to hand over the donation to convert a small garage into a classroom, one of the kids looked at me in disbelief and asked: 'Do you really come from the township because people like us don’t do things like that'.”
She said she then realised kids need to have local heroes to identify with, so that they too can believe doing something unusual is possible for them.
“This became my drive to represent our communities and I immediately decided that I would do the seven summits, which is a challenge to climb the highest mountain of each of the seven continents.”
For Saray, the work she does as an ambassador is an extension of her passion for inspiring the youth and raising money for education.
The registrations for the challenge closes on 3 March.
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Joining Khumalo will be Laureus ambassadors, actor and philanthropist Maps Maponyane, sport all-rounder and former Proteas netballer Dumisani Chauke, altitude mountaineer and businesswoman Deshun Deysel, Springbok legend Butch James and sharp-witted sports anchor and broadcaster Dan Nichol, who are among the inspirational South African Laureus Ambassadors participating in the challenge.
