Share This Article
The annual Cableway Charity Challenge, which kicked off this past weekend, aims to raise funding to assist various organizations in the greater Cape Town area. This year, the event has gone virtual. A total of 133 athletes will participate over an eight-day period ending on Sunday 18 April 2021.
The virtual event encourages locals to support and sponsor participants to do as many laps as possible up Platteklip Gorge, summiting Table Mountain, and descending from the top using the cable car. To track their progress, participants will be recording their laps on the free-to-use mobile app, Strava.
The MD of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company, Wahida Parker, says the Table Mountain Cableway Charity Challenge is the perfect illustration of how people can connect with each other at virtual and hybrid events in a socially distanced manner.
“While we wait for South Africa to reach herd immunity against Covid-19, the online event revolution has made it possible for participants to connect with each other, and for people to live stream and engage in events.”
In 2021, this has become the mainstay for event organizers, including the running community who have simply moved online, redefining what social running looks like.
Since its inception in 2009, the Cableway Charity Challenge has raised more than R6 million for a variety of well-established local NGOs that include Wilderness Search and Rescue, Ons Plek, Home from Home and the Cape Town Environmental Education Trust (CTEET).
“The comradery shown over the past few days has been overwhelming. So far, there has already been 432 laps completed and just under R700 000.00 raised with the goal of reaching the R 1 million mark. The support has been incredible and we cannot be more grateful,” says Tracy Le Roux, Treasurer at the JDI Foundation Trust – the official organizer of the race.
“The initiative is a testimony of individual endurance and the power of collaboration. The event has made a significant impact in the lives of those less fortunate and is only possible because of the combined effort of everyone involved,” says Parker.
To ensure that all participants are kept safe, Covid-19 related protocols are in place for all trips on the Cableway. For more information, visit https://charitychallenge.co.za/