Wild women head from South African coast to the Great Wall for 90km trek to prove their bodies are ‘powerful machines and not clothes hangers’
- The event that started in South Africa has spread to China, as 24 women show their metal mettle on a tough trek
On a crisp November morning at Beijing’s Olympic Forest Park, a group of women approach their meeting point not far from the car park. They are dressed in brightly coloured running clothes and are all wearing their “full pack”, filled with obligatory gear, ready for the training session of Wild Women on the Wall 2020. A three-day, 90km hike and run that will take 24 women from all over the world on the adventure of a lifetime on the Great Wall of China.
It all began when Lucille Van der Merwe, a South African, was hospitalised after a life-threatening asthma attack in 2010, her extreme athlete friend, Kim van Kets, told her she had to start running.
“I took the advice seriously and six months later, I ran my first half marathon,” she said.
Having caught the running bug, she started dreaming about running the Wildrun – a three-day run along South Africa’s Wild Coast.
“Not only was it expensive to participate, to be honest, I was also intimidated by the Lycra-clad gorgeous looking women that were likely to take part,” she said. It was then that Van Kets suggested they get a bunch of friends together and do their own three-day run along the Wild Coast of South Africa.