This weekend the South African pro road cycling peloton heads north to the Limpopo Province to contest the second Polokwane Annual Mayoral race.
Team Abantu’s David Maree will be back to defend the title he won last year, as will women’s 2014 champion, An-Li Kachelhoffer, now racing for Team Activate Demacon. They won’t have it easy though as all their rival teams will be on the start line.
David Maree from Team Abantu on his way to victory in 2014 // Photo credit: www.zooncronje.com
This year will see Team Abantu battle it out with Team Bonitas and Europcar among others. The women’s race also promises to be electric with household names Lynette Burger and Lise Olivier as well as a full Team Bestmed compliment lining alongside Kachelhoffer.
While the race is growing as an autumn calendar favourite, it’s only part of an long-term strategy by the mayor’s office to promote non-motorised transport and healthy living in the City of Polokwane.
At the 2014 race, bikes were handed over to youngsters from the local community to assist them in becoming more mobile, efficient residents. This year will see the professional cycling teams visiting schools in the area to promote the sport as part of the city’s Non-Motorised Transport Smart Mobility Vision 2030, the name of the carbon-footprint reduction project.
Polokwane was recently declared a running and cycling city whilst it’s previous Executive Mayor, Councilor Freddy Greaver, was a Climate Change Ambassador. Leading by example he also took part in the 2014 event, saying:
“It was my first ever cycling event and I’m very happy we pulled this off. I’m looking forward to seeing this grow. We wanted to make Polokwane the sporting hub of our province and this is part of that strategy,” said Greaver.
He went on to say that the event is not only about winning, it is about the getting together of families and Polokwane’s people from all ages and all walks of life.
“The people of Polokwane are also very proud to play host to some of the top professional teams in South Africa this year,” he said.
The race takes place on Sunday morning at the Peter Mokaba Stadium and offers three distances: 96km, 45km and a 15.5km fun ride. For more information, visit www.cycleevents.co.za.
