University of Pretoria master's student Qiniso Sithole prepares for his first Comrades Marathon, driven by a personal mission to help other deserving students overcome financial barriers and achieve their academic dreams.
“This campaign is deeply personal because I know what it feels like to study under financial pressure. If I can help even one graduate get their degree and move forward, then every kilometre is worth it.”
This is how University of Pretoria (UP) master’s student Qiniso Sithole described his bigger mission as he went through the final preparations to run his first Comrades Marathon on Sunday. Sithole will not simply be running 90-odd kilometres from Durban to Pietermaritzburg – he will be running for every late-night financial calculation and every moment he wondered whether he would find the money to get to the finish line of his degree.
And, ultimately, he will be running so that others do not have to face the same uncertainty.
A final-year master’s student in agricultural plant pathology, Sithole is one of nine “fundraising champions” taking on this year’s Comrades Marathon as part of UP’s Degrees Delivered campaign – an initiative aimed at helping graduates clear historical student debt and obtain their degree certificates.
