A Win for Conservation as a Comrades Charity in 2024.

On 14 August 2024, the Comrades Marathon Association celebrated a successful charity handover of R6,477,988 (exceeding 2023 donations by 1.5 million) to its six official charities. The SANParks Honorary Rangers (SHR), an official Amabeadibeadi charity, is thrilled to have received R991,300.
These funds were achieved by runners choosing SANParks Honorary Rangers as their preferred charity when entering online, purchasing merchandise at the Comrades Expo, choosing SANParks Honorary Rangers on the Race4Charity platform, purchasing Toyota Win-A-Car competition tickets, together with funds raised by the greater Comrades community.

“We extend our gratitude to every runner, supporter, sponsor and member of the public who contributed to this remarkable achievement,” says Brenda Huntley of the organising team.
SANParks Honorary Rangers will utilise these funds to support SANParks rangers and K9 units in South Africa’s national parks.
The K9 National Project supports SANParks’s K9 anti-poaching units in various national parks. Poaching is a major conservation challenge in South Africa, and anti-poaching units have been a game-changer in tackling the problem. Well-trained dogs and their handlers are powerful weapons against wildlife crime. They track poachers in the field and detect firearms, ammunition and wildlife products that enter and exit through park gates.
SANParks rangers are our real-life heroes at the frontline of conservation. Their daily lives are stressful, physically demanding, and often dangerous. They may encounter poachers, dangerous game, crime or fire in the line of duty. A percentage of the funds raised from Comrades 2024 will therefore go to supporting SANParks rangers via our ‘Embrace’ National Project. This project offers trauma and stress management programmes for rangers and their families, aiming to bolster their emotional and mental well-being so that they are better equipped to take care of our national parks.