Aims and Objectives

  • To help needy adults and children through running to develop focus, teach them discipline and life skills and give them a sense of pride and confidence through the achievement of their own goals.
  • We will target local community based, previously disadvantaged people and incorporate programmes to reach adults and young people.
  • We aim to help a broad cross-section of people in these communities rather than just potential elite athletes. However we will nurture potential elite athletes as we find them.
  • We will look for early success.
  • We will look to give value rather than money.

Fourways Development Running arose from the enthusiasm of a small group of Fourways RoadRunners club members who regard themselves as privileged to have skills and access to resources, and wanted to make a contribution to Development Running in the surrounding area. These club members formed a sub-committee, with the support of the current committee and they run and manage various running projects (in their spare time) for those in need. The Fourways Development Running Committee’s core philosophy is to assist any worthwhile development running project that accords with its aims and objectives. The committee believes that its contributions need not necessarily be financial, but that members’ individual skills, time and care are often more valuable.

We raise our own funds to pay for these projects and members have found their involvement to be uplifting and rewarding at a personal level. If you would like to get involved, we would welcome your contribution

An example of one of our successful projects is a Fun Athletics’ Day held each year in Diepsloot. The purpose of the event is to encourage children from Diepsloot, an informal settlement in Johannesburg, to participate in athletics and increase the membership of Diepsloot Athletics Club. Jointly organised by the Fourways RoadRunners and Diepsloot Athletics’ Club, the event has to date been a huge success, with nearly 300 and over 440 excited children participating in 2004 and 2005 respectively. The natural talent of some of these children is astonishing; the boys main event for 2005 was won in 15:35 for the 5km Fun Run!

This event has already seen fantastic growth in the last year and has attracted sponsorship from Mageu No 1, Eskom and Investec.