Deckle Edge Media_Maluti_Issue 1 Winter 2017

Sport Cave
The joBurg2c Cycle Race
By MRS MARY-ANN PULLINGER
on route through Harrismith
The joBerg2c off-road cycle race is a nine day event, held in late April. It starts in Heidelberg in Gauteng and
ends in Scottburgh in KwaZulu-Natal. The first race was held in 2010 and was organised by Glen Haw, Gary
Green and Craig Wapnick. The inaugural race featured fewer than 500 participants. It has grown to close to a
thousand cyclists in 2017.
The race is based on community organisation as all the overnight
stops and water points are run by local schools or charities.
The organisers believe in giving back to the communities and
distribute approximately R4,000,000.00 to schools and charitable
communities along the route.
Harriston School has hosted the third overnight stop at Sterkfontein
Dam since the inception of the race. As there are no permanent
facilities at the dam, 650 two-man tents are pitched to provide
sleeping quarters while a huge marquee serves as a kitchen
and dining hall for 1150 people. Water, electricity and all other
amenities are also built in. The school provides lunch, supper and
breakfast to the entire racing community – which includes athletes,
medics, mechanics, organisers and exhibitors. The Tea Table is
famous, and provides all manners of tasty snacks between meals!
820 bikes are also washed by the school after this particular stage.
Harriston School is a small private school of approximately 320
pupils situated in Harrismith. The school caters for pupils from
grade 0000 to Grade 12 and is an IEB school with weekly boarding.
With such a small networking community to rely upon the whole
school participates in making the race village as comfortable and
enjoyable as possible. The parents do a sterling job at cooking,
serving and cleaning as well as providing the infrastructure.
Planning starts months before the event. The pupils work in the
kitchen preparing, serving, cleaning, and run the tuckshop. They
also greet each cyclist as they complete the stage and take their
bikes to be washed. Before the cyclists arrive, tents are fitted
with mattresses and a kit bag is practically and conveniently
placed in front of each tent. The race weekend is a time of hard
work, camaraderie and fun. Harriston raises a substantial amount
of money over the race weekend which it invests in capital
development projects.
Please visit the Joberg2c website for more information and entry forms for 2018: https://joberg2c.co.za/
Maluti Berg & Dal • Winter 2017 • 10