{"id":152380,"date":"2025-05-29T09:00:51","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T07:00:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/?p=152380"},"modified":"2025-05-28T09:54:14","modified_gmt":"2025-05-28T07:54:14","slug":"mom-daughter-dedicate-comrades-pavement-specials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/environment\/mom-daughter-dedicate-comrades-pavement-specials\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom and Daughter Dedicate Their Comrades to Pavement Specials\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"<h2>Running for a reason! SPCA legend Sarah Van Heerden and her daughter Alex are dedicating the Ultimate Human Race to pavement specials.<\/h2>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><i>Kloof, South Africa (29 May 2025) \u2014 <\/i>The Kloof and Highway SPCA\u2019s Sarah Van Heerden is a champion of underdogs. While you might think all shelter pets are underdogs, there are still levels to underdogship. Some dogs get adopted quickly, while others wait for months if not years, simply because they\u2019re pavement specials or senior animals.<\/p>\n<p>But Sarah and her daughter, Alex want to change the narrative around these invisible animals while giving them a boost, and they\u2019re using the Ultimate Human Race as a means to spread their message on behalf of the entire SPCA team.<\/p>\n<p>Sarah is no stranger to pushing her body to extremes for the betterment of animals. Last year, she cycled an incredible 1,600kms over a weekn in the Western Cape to raise funds for forgotten animals and managed to fundraise <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/people\/spca-cycling-hero-sarah-cycles-for-7-days-raises-a-fortune\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">over R120 000<\/a> for the SPCA and its services.<\/p>\n<p>How will she fare at the Comrades? Well, this is her 14th time doing it!<\/p>\n<p>Sarah and Alex will run specifically for the pavement specials in an effort to support sterilisations. Sarah hopes to make 60 sterilisations possible, which will cost around R30,000.<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u201cEvery Comrades runner matters, just as every animal in our community matters,\u201d Sarah says.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ff0000;\">\u201cI am a below average, untalented jogger, I am just another runner, but if my finish counts for anything, let it be a finish making a different to JUST another brown dog.\u201d<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>You can support Sarah and Alex via their fundraiser,<a href=\"https:\/\/www.kloofspca.co.za\/campaigns\/running-comrades\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> here.\u00a0<\/a><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<h6><em>Sources: Kloof and Highway SPCA\u00a0<\/em><\/h6>\n<h6><em>Don\u2019t ever miss the Good Things. Download the Good Things Guy App now on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/apps.apple.com\/us\/app\/good-things-guy-news\/id1485106885\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Apple<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/play.google.com\/store\/apps\/details?id=com.goodthingsguy.app\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Google<\/a>.\u00a0<\/em><\/h6>\n<h6><em>Do you have something to add to this story? Please share it in the comments or follow GoodThingsGuy on\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/goodthingsguy\" rel=\"noopener\">Facebook<\/a>\u00a0&amp;\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.twitter.com\/goodthingsguy\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a>\u00a0to keep up to date with good news as it happens, or share your good news with us by\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/submit-a-story\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">clicking here\u00a0<\/a>or click the link below to listen to the Good Things Guy Podcast with Brent Lindeque \u2013 South Africa\u2019s very own\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/about-us\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Good Things Guy<\/a>. He\u2019s on a mission to change what the world pays attention to, and he truly believes there\u2019s good news around us. In the Good Things Guy podcast, you\u2019ll meet these everyday heroes &amp; hear their incredible stories:<\/em><\/h6>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/iframe.iono.fm\/c\/6977?layout=modern\" width=\"100%\" height=\"535\" frameborder=\"0\" data-mce-fragment=\"1\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h6><em>Or watch an episode of Good Things TV below, a show created to offer South Africans balance in a world with what feels like constant bad news. We\u2019re here to remind you that there are still so many good things happening in South Africa &amp; we\u2019ll leave you feeling a little more proudly South African.<\/em><\/h6>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"The Best News of the Week: 5 Stories That\u2019ll Make You Smile!\" width=\"810\" height=\"456\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VI8TZhHHcEM?list=PLOgUodplcFhYH57yXl_JRhLb3t2Gu43ws\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Running for a reason! SPCA legend Sarah Van Heerden and her daughter Alex are dedicating the Ultimate Human Race to pavement specials. &nbsp; Kloof, South Africa (29 May 2025) \u2014&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":124404,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[224],"tags":[200,55,86,59,15,2840,3913,104,12,11,190,23,561,2092,2491,8,127],"class_list":["post-152380","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-environment","tag-awesomesa","tag-animals","tag-awesome","tag-change-one-thing","tag-charity","tag-checked","tag-comrades-marathon","tag-do-good","tag-dont-miss","tag-featured","tag-good-news","tag-inspiration","tag-inspiring","tag-kloof-and-highway-spca","tag-run-for-a-reason","tag-south-afri-can","tag-wow"],"featured_image_urls":{"medium":"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/running-feet-pexels-300x169.jpg","large":"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/running-feet-pexels-1024x576.jpg","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/running-feet-pexels-150x150.jpg","medium_large":"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/running-feet-pexels-768x432.jpg","1536x1536":"https:\/\/www.goodthingsguy.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/06\/running-feet-pexels-1536x864.jpg"},"appp_media":null,"yoast_head":"<!-- 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