SHARON Jessop, 53, is an Ultra Endurance Runner whose bright personality is only rivalled by her vibrant hair colour choices and her passion as a self-proclaimed Rhino Warrior.
She has dedicated the last three years of her life to combining her passion for the outdoors with her dedication towards conservation and the environment by participating in various fitness challenges.
To date, Jessop has earned a Guinness World Record for the most consecutive half marathon distances by a female, completed a 21-day running expedition to and through 11 of the rhino-bearing game reserves in the Eastern Cape and has also completed three Comrades marathons, three Two Oceans marathons, an Ironman, numerous 3-4 day stage trail runs, along with numerous other marathons and ultra-marathons, both on the road and on trails.
“I support rhino conservation charities such as CCFA, Project Rhino KZN, Save the Horns and Care for Wild Rhino Sanctuary. But I am also involved with the Gregg Mitchley Foundation as they have also recently added rhino conservation to their repertoire,” said Jessop.
At the end of 2020, while most of the world was in lockdown due to the covid 19 pandemic Jessop took on the incredible task of completing 102 consecutive half-marathons within the daily ‘exercise window’, and become the unofficial Guinness World Record holder for the most consecutive half-marathon distances run by a female.
“There is a sense of purpose as I use my legs to talk for those without voices, to raise awareness and also funds for direct rhino conservation as we are currently living through a horrible spate of rhino poaching in the Eastern Cape.
“We’ve had 13 rhinos poachings in the EC since the end of 2022 after a lull of 4.5 years where we had no rhinos poached,” she said.
Her journey started at the end of 2019 when she was planning to run from Gqeberha to the Lebombo Border Post to raise awareness and funds for the rhino poaching crisis.
“Then 2020 happened and we all found ourselves under ‘house arrest’. I stumbled upon the Guinness World Record website. I needed to find something that I could do within the then 3-hour window period for exercise, so I decided that instead of running through three provinces, I would go for a new Guinness World Record for the most consecutive half marathons by a female.”
This provided to be more difficult than anticipated because when she first decided to attempt to break the record, it stood at 50 half marathons, but that was brought up to 75, and by the time she made it to 76 she was informed of someone who was aiming for 100.
“In the end, I completed 102 consecutive half marathons for a new Guinness World Record. That was subsequently broken by a lady in Wales,” reminisced Jessop.
Last year after running through 11 Eastern Cape rhino-bearing game reserves she went for another challenge.
“I ran through three provinces, EC, KZN and Mpumalanga, and visited 30 game reserves. I physically ran through 26 of those.”
Jessop has always been a physically active person. She started running at school at the age of five and never stopped, going on to become a qualified fitness trainer.
Her latest fitness challenge was assembling a group of cyclists to travel from Gqeberha to Cape Town. They started on Saturday, March 4 and cycled to Cape Town over 7 days, then took a one-day break before taking part the in the Cape Town Cycle Tour on Sunday, March 12.
Jessop is thankful for a strong support system.
“Besides thinking I am a tad crazy my friends and family are all very supportive and I could never do these crazy awesome challenges without their support.”
With Jessop juggling quite a few interests, this support has become invaluable.
“My organisation ‘Run/Ride Wild for Rhinos’ is my passion and purpose, but to make this happen I need to earn money, so I am an independent marketer for an amazing company called myWorld. Then I also recently started my online store called ‘Run Wild ZA’ with some cool merchandise such as a lovely locally roasted coffee, some locally manufactured running shorts and jewellery, a rhino soft toy, etc.”
It has not all been smooth sailing for Jessop who has found a lot of negativity along the way.
“The non-profit space can be very tricky and political. There are many egos to deal with and many are not in it for the right reasons.”
She says she counters the negativity with connection; “Connecting to nature, to animals and people. I love hearing their stories. Conservation is all about people and then the belief that we can and will make a difference, that the rhinos will not become extinct, and that we can save them.”
Jessop encourages those who want to make a difference to follow their hearts.
“All you need is to start taking action, no matter how small. Do not lend your ears to the nay-sayers, prove them wrong and make them swallow those negative words. Believe you can and you will.”
For more about Sharon Jessop and her endeavours check out her website
Also, check out other People of the Bay we have featured
Leave a Reply