4 minute read
Message from SPAR
What a year it has been since we held our first ever Virtual Challenge. In 2020, we found ourselves in the grip of a global crisis that we could not have imagined possible. And at the time, the thought that we would still be fighting against the Covid-19 pandemic was just as unimaginable – and yet, here we are! As tough as it has been, we cannot deny that we have all had an unprecedented opportunity to find out what we are really made of.
The incredible fortitude our country has shown over the last 18 months was the inspiration for the 2021 SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge and its theme, #LiveLimitless. This year’s challenge celebrates the ways in which we have challenged, and in some cases broken down, the limits that lived in our minds before the pandemic. #LiveLimitless is calling on all South Africans to put on their running shoes once again and come together virtually to be part of a nationwide event that’s breaking borders and redefining limits!
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Alison Zweers - Managing Director
Alison Zweers
Managing Director
What seemed impossible to us before has now become daily life. Working from home and caring for our children at the same time? Impossible before, and now an average day. Making deals and holding meetings online? A strange and unknown concept that we now take in our stride! What further proof could you need to show that limitations are purely mental, and how living without limits is truly possible.
Charlene Subbarayan - Events and Sponsorship Controller
Charlene Subbarayan
Events and Sponsorship Controller
We have all felt alone in this at some point. Working from home unable to see colleagues every day, restrictions on seeing friends – and then for many people unable to travel to see family. This took its toll, but amazingly we all found ourselves adjusting and finding the strength to move forward despite the emotional toll this has taken. So, this year, SPAR has once again found a way to unite tens of thousands of people. We’ve gone limitless and opened the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge up to the whole country. We can’t all be together in one place, and yes – you’ll be running or walking on your own, but you don’t have to FEEL alone and that is what makes all the difference.
Charleen Goschen - Divisional Marketing Director
Charleen Goschen
Divisional Marketing Director
Bringing people together is such an intrinsic part of SPAR’s DNA. At the start we questioned whether the Covid-19 pandemic and the lockdown would stop us from doing this thing that comes so naturally to us. The answer was a resounding, NO! We have done everything in our power to redefine what is possible and in doing so we have managed to host not just one but two SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenges. This has allowed us to keep the SPAR spirit alive, to keep giving back to our communities, to keep celebrating extraordinary South Africans and to let nothing stop us from bringing our community together.
Nozipho Mkhize - Advertising Manager
Nozipho Mkhize
Advertising Manager
#LiveLimitless means that we get yet another opportunity to create our own new reality. Rather than seeing this pandemic as something that happened to us, we can choose to see it as a situation in which we redefined a new life for ourselves, on our own terms in every way we could, big or small. The SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge is a way to break yet another limit in a long list of limits we have broken down since March 2020.
Nonelela Xaba Butjie - Divisional Human Resources Director
Nonelela Xaba Butjie
Divisional Human Resources Director
Limits truly do live in our own minds. Even big physical limits can be overcome if we think long enough about a solution. This concept is mind-blowing to me – and truly inspiring. Over the last year I have come to realise that even distance is just a concept, and that togetherness exists in our minds and in our hearts. I’ll be running in the SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge with the mental image of everyone I love running right alongside me. Being able to be together in our hearts is what #LiveLimitless means to me!
The SPAR Grand Prix is Back!
Along with the return of the second SPAR Women’s Virtual Challenge, we are also excited to be bringing back the SPAR Grand Prix Series for 2021. We as SPAR have recognised the impact that Covid-19 restrictions have had on sporting events and on the professional runners who have supported our races year after year. With this in mind, we will once again be hosting the Grand Prix Series, in 6 invitational races, and will be awarding a combined total of just over R2 million in prize money to the winners.
Follow us on Instagram @SPARVirtualChallenge
Remember to share your virtual challenge experience by posting on social media and using the official hashtags! #LiveLimitless #SPARVirtualChallenge
