Image: Instagram / @the roperunner
Marissa Groenewald redefines endurance sport as she prepares to tackle the Comrades Marathon – the ‘ultimate human race’ – with a skipping rope in hand, raising funds for a worthy cause along the way.
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Durban resident Marissa Groenewald is not your average marathon runner. The 41-year-old mother of two has pioneered a new sport she calls “rope running” – completing gruelling long-distance races while continuously skipping with a jump rope.
Having recently conquered the Two Oceans Ultramarathon with her rope in hand, she’s now set her sights on an even greater challenge: the legendary Comrades Marathon.
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From rope-running for rehabilitation to making history
What began as a simple rehabilitation exercise has evolved into something greater. After suffering a hip injury from her regular road and trail running activities, Groenewald turned to skipping rope for recovery.
“I’m a road runner and a trail runner. With all the running, I had a hip injury and I heard that skipping is good for recovery,” Groenewald said, as per the Daily Maverick (DM) “I started skipping in the gym and it got boring pretty quickly. And I thought, let me do something more interesting. Let me try to run with a skipping rope in the gym.”
When gym sessions became monotonous, she cautiously took her experiment outdoors to a secluded road in Durban where no one would see her initial attempts. Groenewald, who describes herself as “a creature of variety,” realised then that what started as a small experiment in recovery would quickly expand into a mission with a purpose.
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“It started in the gym and then it was one kilometre and two kilometres and five kilometres, and then 10 kilometres, and now I’m doing marathons and ultra marathons,” she shared with Love Justice International, the organisation she’s partnered with for her campaigns.
“Yes, it’s hard work and it takes a lot of effort to do it, much more than road running or trail running, but it is doable,” she explained to DM.
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Groenewald’s innovation and perseverance paid off when she crossed the finish line of the gruelling 56-kilometre Two Oceans Ultramarathon in April, which she completed in just under seven hours, setting a distance record in the process.
“The overall experience was so positive and enjoyable. I was ecstatic when I crossed the finishing line, overcome with emotion, because it was a massive thing to have been accomplished,” she told DM.
The ultimate challenge awaits at the Comrades Marathon
Now, Groenewald is training intensively for what many consider the world’s most challenging ultramarathon. The 2025 Comrades Marathon, scheduled for June 8th, will test her endurance with its approximately 90-kilometre route – over 30 kilometres longer than the Two Oceans.
Despite the daunting challenge ahead, Groenewald is confident. “Even if it’s goals that no one has ever achieved, I keep on thinking to myself, you know what, I thought it was impossible, but now I can do a marathon. And I thought the Two Oceans was impossible and now I have done it. It’s going to be the same for the Comrades as well,” she said, according to the DM.
Rope running for a worthy cause
Beyond her athletic achievements, Groenewald’s mission has a deeply personal dimension. Her passion for fighting human trafficking stems from her family’s direct involvement with survivors.
Her parents lived in Myanmar for about a decade, where her mother spent seven years working with trafficking survivors, teaching them skills like jewellery-making. Groenewald had the opportunity to witness this work firsthand during two visits before her parents returned to South Africa.
“I remember there were many girls, like 20 girls sitting there making jewellery. And I remember vividly the radiance on their faces… It was like they had a new chance at living,” she recalled of these encounters.
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The unique nature of rope running has given Groenewald a platform to speak about human trafficking in ways that capture people’s attention.
“Human trafficking is not something people think about unless there’s somebody that shines a light on it. And this is why I thought, ‘You know what? I’m going to be that person,'” she said.
Through her partnership with Love Justice International, she aims to raise R500,000 – enough to help intercept approximately 200 potential victims of trafficking.
“It has been an eye-opener for every single person that has come in contact with my story—that you can actually protect lives by getting involved or spreading the news or just being some sort of voice for the people who don’t have a voice. It has been a phenomenal tool for people to know what’s going on.”
To support Marissa Groenewald’s fundraising efforts for Love Justice International, visit her Back-a-Buddy account.
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