Fat Cats Athletic Club, SA’s fastest growing road running club, brings you the third instalment of the Fat Cats 10km annual race. Due to Covid-19, this year’s edition of the race will yet again be hosted virtually. However, we are doing things a bit different this year. We are not just having one race but we are taking our race on a tour of four cities.

The race, dubbed the Fat Cats 10km Virtual 4Cities Series, will be virtually hosted in Johannesburg, Cape Town, Polokwane and Bloemfontein from October 10-31.

The club successfully launched and hosted its inaugural event at Waterfall Park at Mall of Africa in 2019, followed by its first virtual race last year. To keep the series interesting, we would really appreciate it if runners could join in and run our routes during the series.

Proceeds from these races will benefit underprivileged children in provinces where our club has a footprint, i.e. Gauteng, Western Cape, Limpopo and the Free State.

Club race director Nnoni Mokgethi said the club was ready to set the bar even higher during this year’s event, despite the physical distance that would be separating participants.

“The club once again brings to the people the virtual race in 2021 to build on the success of its previous race and ensure that it does not lose momentum gained from it. Its plight is to ensure that even with the limitations, the race remains on people's lips. Although the race is virtual, this year will be no different as the theme of the race remains ‘a run for the whole family,” said Mokgethi.

As in the yesteryears, the race is for the whole family with distances including 10km, 5km, Kitten Miller and Nappy Dash. There are great prizes in store for all participants and there is a special prize for the club that rallies behind the race the most. There will also be full-day activities on the first day of the series that will be streamed live on our social media pages. There really is something for everyone, and we encourage everyone to participate.

“We encourage runners and walkers alike from all corners of the globe to rally behind us, and this race,” said Mokgethi. All registrations for the race or the whole series can be done via the Fat Cats AC website.

Chairperson Vongani Mashile said: “I would like to commend our race committee for the wonderful work they have done under these trying circumstances. We are confident that this series will attract more participants as people are now comfortable with the idea of a virtual race. We would like to encourage runners to register with their families as this is a run for the whole family.”

Entries for the Fat Cats 10km Virtual 4Cities Series opened on July 21. Runners can participate from anywhere in and around the country during the four consecutive Sundays from 4pm until 6pm. Every runner will have to time their run and then submit that manually onto the Finishtime website.