Matriarch Perl, 54, first introduced her daughters Mandy, 27, and Melanie, 24, to the event after spotting an advert for the inaugural edition in the newspaper.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve taken part from the very beginning and have been doing it ever since,\u201d said Melanie.<\/p>\n
Mandy\u2019s daughter Shad\u00e9, now 11, also participated in her first race when she was just a few months old and was pushed along in a pram.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt has been a part of our lives for a long time and we look forward to doing the race every year,\u201d said Melanie.<\/p>\n
She said her mother, who is an educator at Bethelsdorp Road Primary, had also introduced many of her school\u2019s athletes to the race.<\/p>\n
The family train for the 5km fun run component by taking long walks together in the evenings.<\/p>\n
For the first time this year, however, the Heath Park residents will be short a member as Mandy has had to relocate to Johannesburg for work.<\/p>\n
But, said candidate attorney Melanie, the family planned to continue participating in the SPAR<\/a> Women\u2019s Challenge, as well as other local road running events.<\/p>\n \u201cWe do the race for fun. It\u2019s a nice bonding experience as we are chatting and laughing all the way to the finish line \u2013 and it\u2019s good exercise at the same time!\u201d<\/p>\n SPAR Eastern Cape marketing manager Martin Webber said the Saptoes epitomised the spirit of the event, which is about fun and entertainment for the whole family.<\/p>\n \u201cFor them it\u2019s about family time, but we have over 11 000 women from all walks of life who run for many different reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n Webber said some did the race in honour of a loved one or to support a particular cause, such as the Yokhuselo Haven for victims of domestic violence, which is the beneficiary of the event.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019d like to give our participants a platform to tell their story, so we\u2019ve launched the \u2018My Reason to Run\u2019 competition on Facebook.\u201d<\/p>\n He said all participants had to do was like the Facebook page and post their reason to run on the wall. \u201cThe best, funniest or most heart-warming story will win R1 000 in grocery vouchers.\u201d<\/p>\n The SPAR Women\u2019s Challenge starts at Kings Beach on Saturday, May 5. There will be both a 5km and 10km option, with medals going to all finishers.<\/p>\n To submit your reason to run, find \u201cSPAR EC in ACTION\u201d on Facebook.<\/p>\n Get a race entry form at any SUPERSPAR<\/a>, SPAR or KWIKSPAR<\/a> store or enter online at www.spar.co.za before April 28.<\/p>\n The Saptoe family, from left, Shad\u00e9, Perl and Melanie, are looking forward to their annual outing in the SPAR Women’s Challenge on May 5. Photo: Richard Huggard<\/p>\n \t\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" For the Saptoe family of Port Elizabeth, the SPAR Women\u2019s Challenge has become an annual highlight and an inter-generational bonding experience. Matriarch Perl, 54, first introduced her daughters Mandy, 27, and Melanie, 24, to the event after spotting an advert for the inaugural edition in the newspaper. \u201cWe\u2019ve taken part from the very beginning and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[1289,5],"class_list":{"0":"post-10194","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-south-africa","7":"tag-mype","8":"tag-port-elizabeth-2","9":"entry"},"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10194","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10194"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10194\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Saptoe](\"http:\/\/www.myza.co.za\/press\/wp-content\/plugins\/rss-poster\/cache\/49ddd_Saptoe_family.jpg\")
<\/p>\n