September 18th 2017. A day that will go down in history. A day when four ridiculously cute babies, kitted out with specially-designed distance-tracking devices, will embark on the greatest challenge any baby has ever undertaken, The World’s First Baby Marathon!
Just to clarify… No, there won’t be ten-month-olds out crawling on the streets. (That would be dangerous. And illegal. Besides, the authorities said no.) Instead our chosen babies will attempt to complete 21km across some of the toughest terrain known to, well, babies – their very own dummy-dotted, soft-toy-strewn homes.
But why a marathon in the first place, you might be asking. Good question. Turns out, babies move around way more than anyone has ever realised. “It’s unbelievable really, but the latest research is telling us that once babies become mobile, they can cover anywhere between 1 to 7 kilometres in a single day. If that’s true, the design of the nappy they’re wearing is absolutely crucial. Think about it. A runner would never run a marathon in a pair of jeans,” explains Morné van Emmenes, Senior Brand Manager for Huggies®. “This got us wondering – if babies can cover that much distance in a single day, given the best gear and support, what else would it be possible for them to do?”
Meet the Athletes:
And so here they are, folks – the World’s First Baby Marathon babies (in no particular order of cuteness): Super-fast 8-month-old, Ramon Thobejane (a.k.a. “Thunder Pants”), always-on-the-go 9-month-old, Grayson Llewellyn (a.k.a. “Racin’ Grayson”), as-busy-as-she-is-adorable 11-month-old, Thando Sithole (a.k.a. “Hurricane Thando”) and last but not least, punching way above his weight, 7-month-old Dantè Gurumurthi (a.k.a. “Danger Boy”).
During the run-up to the marathon, you can go to babymarathon.co.za and sign up to receive your own unique race number which puts you into the draw for some exciting Huggies® and Adidas hampers. Don’t forget to tune in on the 18th September and watch the World’s First Baby Marathon begin!
