Organising Joburg’s biggest race

“We eat, breathe and sleep it,” said Harford of the annual challenge facing the all-women team at Harford Sports Promotions, organiser of the 94.7 Cycle Challenge for 17 years.

Cycling was beginning to boom in 1997 when Harford was sub-contracted to help with the first race, organised by Midrand Country Cyclists, which remains the event’s technical club to this day. Seeing the potential for the race to become something big, Harford approached 94.7 Highveld Stereo, and almost two decades later, 34 000 cyclists take to Johannesburg’s roads in what is now the second-largest timed cycle event in the world.

Many choose to dedicate their efforts to charity by ‘riding for a cause’, and there are currently 196 charities registered with the event.

This year sees Riversands Farm host the cycle challenge for the first time – the race’s previous location at Waterfall City became too crowded with residential developments. Ongoing developments at Riversands mean organisers will have to take each year as it comes, but Harford hopes this location will host the event for the next decade.

The new venue has necessitated some changes to the route. The infamously arduous N14 stretch of previous years has been replaced with a more picturesque course, but the new route is not for sissies, Harford warns. Cyclists will climb an extra 400m in altitude, most of it towards the end of the race.

“My advice is train, train, train,” she stressed.

Meanwhile, Harford hopes that the light industrial and commercial developments planned for Riversands will mean that, with business closed on Sundays, organisers will encounter less resistance to road closures. While cycling has reached peak popularity around the world, cyclists’ safety on the city roads is not improving, said Harford, and extensive road closures during the Cycle Challenge are necessary to make Johannesburg’s roads safe for cyclists on just one day of the year.

“It’s [about] trying to understand that the roads belong to everyone,” she adds.

Details: www.cyclechallenge.co.za