23 Aug 2017

The annual President’s Charity Cycle Challenge second edition will be held in Gaborone next Saturday.

The race, which is in three categories; professional, the social sponsored ride made of cabinet ministers, as well as the social ride, would start and finish at Airport Junction Mall.

The aim of the race is to raise funds for the Presidential Housing Appeal and the Presidential Charitable Fund, the two charitable structures established by President Lt Gen. Dr Seretse Khama Ian Khama after he assumed office a decade ago.

Senior Private Secretary to the President, Brigadier George Tlhalerwa, also one of the organisers, explained at the launch of the race, on Tuesday, that they first staged the race as a once-off event last year.

Tlhalerwa said the event proved to be a success because they managed to raise close to P1 million.

He said they then decided to continue with the event and they engaged a team of organisers, which included people from Botswana Cycling Association (BCA) among others, and led by Botswana National Sports Commission (BNSC) chairperson to add new dimension to the event.

“The reason for doing it this way was to combine competition, fun and charity. We are happy to have people of their stature partnering with us,” Tlhalerwa said.

He further said with support from BCA, more cycling clubs would participate in the event, including teams of cabinet ministers.

Meanwhile, Tlhalerwa said the Presidential Housing Appeal had so far built 751 houses for needy families while the Presidential Charitable Fund had donated over 15 000 blankets, about 15 000 chairs for Dikgotla countrywide, around 2 000 arm chairs for customary court officers, among others.

The organising committee chairperson, Solly Reikeletseng said they had set a target to raise P1.5 million through the event this year. Reikeletseng said they also wanted to make the event as big as possible and use it to build more capacity for the cycling association.

“This event must be able to contribute to building capacity for Botswana Cycling Association. They have a lot of deficiencies in this country.

They do not have timing equipment, sufficient bicycles and offices. So we are looking at ensuring that we are able to capacitate them so that they become a

world class association,” Reikeletseng said.

He further said they wanted the event to fit into the national strategy of event tourism, which many people would look forward to becoming part of every year.

He also said they intended to use the race to lobby government to construct roads that are safe for bicycles. He said it was sad that a number of cyclists had lost their lives in the country as a result of road accidents. The race’ head of technical, Tlamelo Dube, who is also BCA secretary, said preparations regarding the route were at an advanced stage.

Dube said the race events included 112km ride, which is the main event, 60km, 30km, and children’s 10km ride. He said categories would include seniors, under 23s, juniors, and masters. Registration fee is P200 across all categories.

The race is open to citizens and foreign professionals and the overall winner will get P10 000 in male and female categories, while the first Motswana to cross the finishing line will get P3 000. He said the overall prize fund for the event is P150 000. ENDS