Hatzolah Garden Route cycle fundraiser a huge success

JACK MILNER

Unlike the rough and tumble of the customary tours, this event sees cyclists put up in five-star accommodation and enjoy fully kosher cuisine. The only difference is that after breakfast, you don’t continue your journey from Plettenberg Bay to Cape Town in a Bentley, but on a bicycle.

The Hatzolah Cycle Tour Cape Invasion 2017 is the brainchild of Steven Blend, who devised the concept while competing in the Alyn Cycle Tours in Israel.

“I thought to myself how many Jewish road cyclists both locally and from around the world would love to come to South Africa and cycle the entire Garden Route plus the Cape Winelands and then, if they want, participate in the world famous Cape Argus Cycle Tour, the world’s largest individually timed road event, all in a safe and secure cycling environment with full back-up, patrols, ambulance services – and 100 per cent kosher.”

He approached his friend, Mark Kruger, who proposed the concept to Hatzolah, the Jewish ambulance service. They first tried it out two years back with just nine cyclists and last year that number increased to 20. This year there were 45 Jewish male cyclists who departed from Keurboomstrand near Plettenberg Bay. The majority were South African, but there were also some riders from the US and Israel.

But don’t kid yourself, this is no armchair fun. The route may be aesthetically pleasing, but it is almost 600 km long with serious climbs and is not for the faint-hearted.

According to Blend, the tour was a great success as a fundraiser. “I’m still waiting for all the pledges to arrive before we can balance the books. We’ve started to penetrate the offshore market. At the moment, it is weighted about 60-40 in favour of South Africans but we would like to see it at around 50-50.

“We were sold out in no time and, in fact, we sold out more places than we had, but we knew some people pull out at the last minute,” said Blend.