Events

joberg2c mountain bike race not going ahead on scheduled dates

· By Press Office · 0 comments

Statement from organiser Craig Wapnick, joberg2c organiser.

Due to the ongoing global Covid-19 (coronavirus) crisis and in light of president Cyril Ramaphosa’s declaration of South Africa’s ‘national state of disaster’ on Sunday evening, joberg2c will unfortunately not go ahead on the event’s scheduled dates. Our nine-day, 900km ride was to have taken place this April, running into May (24 April – 2 May 2020).

As an event that truly loves South Africa and that truly loves showing off South Africa to local and foreign riders, we are devastated to make this announcement. However, we make it with the best interests of our local riders, foreign riders, crew, sponsors and communities at heart.

We are a community-based event, meaning we work closely with local communities and pride ourselves on taking riders on a journey through communities they would otherwise never be exposed to.

As such, this has been a heartbreaking decision to make because so many people along the joberg2c route spend up to a year preparing for our arrival.

But as we have seen in the recent weeks and indeed over the past few days, events and sporting organisations need to make tough decisions to ensure that we play our part in containing the spread of the virus.

Our organising team is committed to doing what is best and fair for all involved in the 2020 event and are currently working on a solution.

This is a tough time for everyone, but we are guided by president Cyril Ramaphosa’s stately national address on Sunday night, and by placing a ban on gatherings of more than 100 people, the president has essentially helped us towards our conclusion that joberg2c 2020 can’t go ahead as currently scheduled.

I would like to thank our sponsors, who have all been supportive in our decision. Sage, Isuzu, Avis Van Rental and the rest of our sponsor family are all behind the decision; these are great teams who understand how the joberg2c works and have already committed time and effort to the 2020 event.

This is not just a blow for all our riders who have trained so hard over the last few months, but also to the race village hosts, the communities along the route and the churches, schools and clubs involved in our water tables.

The schools and groups along the joberg2c route use their participation in our event as their major fundraiser for the year, so they will be hardest hit by the news.

Our event shows off the very best of South Africa and in this tough time we know that the very best qualities of South Africans will shine through. Stay safe, remember the president’s good hygiene advice and we hope to see many past, present and future joberg2c riders soon.

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