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The most exciting fitness event of the year is happening on Table Mountain, one of the world’s new seven wonders of nature.
The annual K-Way Platteklip Charity Challenge, which offers 200 intrepid athletes the opportunity to summit Table Mountain via Platteklip Gorge in aid of charity, takes place on Saturday, 23 April this year. Athletes will attempt to see how many times they can complete the 5.5km lap with 760 metres of climbing within 12 hours.
Says organiser, Anton de Waal: “The route up Platteklip Gorge includes 800 double size steps over a distance of 2.1km. Once at the top, contestants need to run to the upper cable station, catch a lift down the cable car and then run back to the start to do it all over again. Each lap will take approximately 2 hours and the more laps teams do, the more is raised for charity.”
De Waal adds that the event will again support the South African Education and Environment Project (SAEP). “SAEP is a Cape Town-based non-profit organisation that provides education, life skills, and psycho-social support programmes for children, youth and education providers. SAEP will use the funds raised by participants to change the lives of hundreds of people through education.”
Odile Hufkie, Marketing Manager at Cape Union Mart, adds: “We fully support the event through our K-Way brand and urge participants to complete as many laps as possible from sunrise to sunset – the current record is twelve. It’s great fun, even for spectators, and you get to mingle with and meet like-minded people.”
According to Renato Balona, who has completed all seven events to date, the K-Way Platteklip Charity Challenge is the perfect event. “It’s you against the mountain in the most beautiful setting in the world, with the added bonus of helping others in the process. Knowing that every lap up the mountain is making a difference in someone else’s life gives you the energy to push yourself that little bit further. It’s the most well organised trail run I’ve ever entered, and the atmosphere, the friends, the view, and the challenge, is why I’ll keep coming back year after year.”
Entry is free, but all participants need to raise R2 000 for SAEP. The sponsorship process is fully automated and it’s surprisingly easy to raise the money. Friends and family can sponsor from R100 to R10 000.
Visit www.charitychallenge.co.za for more details.