Vital Health Foods to be a development partner for the Cape Town Marathon

Vital Health Foods has announced that it will be a development sponsor for this year's Sanlam Cape Town Marathon. "Our core belief is 'healthy families, healthy homes," said George Grieve, CEO of Vital Health Foods. "This is yet another way for Vital to have an impact on communities through providing an opportunity to invest in talent, purpose and a healthy, balanced lifestyle while being active and achieving one's goals."

With a strong focus on sport as a tool for development within local communities, Vital Health Foods wants its involvement in this year's marathon to play an important role in sport development and also build on its reputation as an active participant in assisting organisations fighting women and child abuse in South Africa through the Vital Foundation.

Relaunched in 2014, the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon has achieved an unprecedented IAAF Silver Label status, and this year it will be going for Gold. The weekend festival of running, which takes place on 19 and 20 September, expects to attract over 20,000 entries across all events.

Vital Health Foods' role as development partner will see it involved in various marathon-linked initiatives, a key one of which is in this year's Peace Conference. Chaired by the Foundation for Sport and Development and Peace, the symposium is used in the same way as other sports festivals, to promote peace and harmony.

Mile of Hope

Vital will also launch its inaugural Mile of Hope along the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon 42.2km route. With inspirational messages branded at every step of this mile, Vital will be encouraging spectators to line the route and show support not only for the race entrants but also for the fight against women and child abuse.

"Various celebrities have accepted the Sanlam Cape Town Marathon #ChallengeYourself initiative and will be running in support of the fight against women and child abuse," said Grieve. These include Vital's own nutrition expert on the Expresso Breakfast Show on SABC3, Andrea du Plessis; former South African longboarder and stand-up paddleboarder, Tammy B, who's also Radio Good Hope's surf reporter; and South African actor and comedian Siv Ngesi.

Vital Health Foods will also host a post-race cool-down precinct, complete with massage zone.

"At Vital, we believe that by changing our own lifestyles for the better by making healthy choices, we can bring about healthy change in the lives of others," said Grieve.

"Our involvement in this year's Sanlam Cape Town Marathon provides us with another platform to communicate the message that through regular exercise, healthy eating and good lifestyle choices, individuals can be empowered - and, more importantly, those individuals can make a difference in the lives of those around them."