Johannesburg - It takes quite something for a mom to be ‘cool’ in the eyes of her teenage daughters, but when Jenna Challenor’s video of her crawling over the finish at the Comrades Marathon last weekend went viral, it did exactly that.
Challenor, a top South African runner before her exploits at Comrades which saw her claim a best finish of fourth, has seen her popularity surge - perhaps even more than the respective winners of this year’s race.
As Challenor, 41, entered the Moses Mabhida Stadium, she slipped on the smooth concrete at the entrance. She managed to crawl to the side and pull herself back to her feet. The worst was over, it seemed, only for her legs to give out once more, less than 50 metres short of the finishing line.
This time, Challenor could not get back up and she had no choice but to crawl her way over the line.
Since the race, Challenor’s social media star has continued to rise with the video of her finish going viral on the various platforms.
Suddenly I’m very cool in the eyes of my teenagers because apparently I’m trending on utube and tiktok🤣![CDATA[]]>🤣![CDATA[]]>🤣 Gotta do what you gotta do, even if that means crawling 🤪✔️ pic.twitter.com/LXszaykBU8
— Jenna Challenor (@jennaChallie1) September 1, 2022
It means that the mother of three teenage girls is certainly the talk of the town, with her viral video having far surpassed her fame (with the younger generation) as a runner for South Africa.
Among Challenor’s long list of running achievements since turning professional after the birth of her third child in June 2012, she has qualified for the World Athletics Championships in the marathon and finished second at the Two Oceans Marathon in 2017. Challenor also qualified for the Rio Olympics in 2016, but was unable to take part after picking up an injury.
IOL Sport