When Cheryl Fortuin lined up at the start of her 10th Comrades ultramarathon on Sunday 14 June, the pre-dawn chill carried with it a weight of memory, loss, and quiet triumph. For the Kuils River athlete, earning her permanent green number is the culmination of a journey beyond sport.

Fortuin’s road running journey began when she joined In Touch Athletic Club in Kuils River in 2013. A marathon that year led to the Two Oceans ultramarathon in 2014, and from there, Comrades felt like a natural next step.

Sister’s fight

While Fortuin trained, her younger sister, Elcher Maritz, was fighting for her life. Diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at nine years old, her sister’s kidneys began failing at age 24. After a year of peritoneal dialysis, a severe infection forced her onto haemodialysis, tying her to a machine every other day just to survive.

When doctors confirmed that a kidney transplant was her only option, Fortuin didn’t hesitate. She volunteered immediately. Their surgeries were scheduled for June, just three weeks after Comrades.

Running with everything

Lining up at her first Comrades in 2015 under those circumstances was profoundly emotional. Unsure whether it might be her last opportunity to run an ultramarathon, Fortuin gave the race everything she had. She crossed the finish line in 10:48, securing a bronze medal, and wept with joy.

Three weeks later, the transplant surgery went ahead successfully. But the aftermath brought unexpected depression. Going from peak fitness as a group fitness instructor to feeling exhausted from simply brushing her hair was a brutal adjustment. Medical professionals advised her to stick to half-marathons going forward.

“But I held onto a deeper conviction: I believed my Heavenly Father would allow me to continue doing what I loved if it served a higher purpose,” Fortuin says.

Witnessing her sister bouncing back “to her vibrant self” inspired her. “Seeing her resilience made me realise how exceptionally strong she was, despite spending her life in and out of hospitals. In my darkest moment, she became my ultimate inspiration.”

Barely 11 months after surgery, Fortuin was back at Comrades, dedicating every agonising kilometre to her sister. It became the proudest race of her life: a time of 10:37, another bronze. This time her husband, Denzell, ran beside her, having stood on the sidelines the year before.

Endurance through life’s seasons

In the years that followed, parenting duties, the pandemic, and life’s rhythms meant that training hours dwindled and finish times slowed. But she managed to beat the final gun at every Comrades since.

Her work as a Pilates instructor has become, in her words, her secret weapon. “This race is 40% physical training and 60% pure mental fortitude,” she says. “I know exactly how to target the deep strength, flexibility and mobility required to keep a body moving forward.”

With nine Comrades medals earned after the donation, she says: “I give glory to God for how He has designed the human body. I am proud to be an organ donor, and if asked whether I would do it again, my answer would still be a definite yes.”

Running in her sister’s memory

Her sister passed away in 2018 due to further health complications. She has never stopped running for her.

“She remains locked in my heart,” she says. “Every single mile I conquer on the tarmac is run in her eternal memory.”

Standing at the start of her 10th Comrades, without her husband beside her for the first time in eight years, Fortuin looked inward and found her answer. She runs for life, in every sense. And with a personal motto of ‘#Liv2Inspire’, she hopes to do just that.

Her Comrades green number isn’t just a milestone. It is a testament to faith, sacrifice, love, and the extraordinary resilience of the human spirit.

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