THE distinctive charity-driven athletes in their cow suits are mobilising a ‘herd’ to take part in the popular aQuellé Tour Durban’s 45km ride on Sunday, 24 April.
The KwaZulu-Natal herd of The Cows has become a distinctive part of the aQuellé Tour Durban, and every year a steadily increasing group of social riders has joined their group, or ‘herd’, as a show of solidarity with their ongoing efforts to raise funds for and profile the work done by The Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa (CHOC).
Last year, one of their stalwart members, Gordon Reid, rode the aQuellé Tour Durban 45km race on an ice cream cart bike surrounded by fellow Cows who helped push him up some of the hills. True to form, the high-spirited Cows engaged fellow riders and spectators with their enthusiastic banter and passionate team spirit.
This year, the race organisers have set aside a batch in the 45km race for The Cows. If you would like to ride with The Cows herd, enter the race, purchase a distinctive Cow T-shirt to ride in and then contact Mamma Moo at the KZN herd of The Cows.
“Our motto is simple – love living life,” said Gordon Reid, a Pinetown businessman who has been actively involved with The Cows from the inception of the KZN herd. “When it all started at the 2008 94.7 Cycle Challenge, the people involved tried to get matching costumes to ride in and all they could find was six cow suits. That’s when The Cows was born.”
The Cows project was started by friends close to the family of 20-month-old Jessica Bain, who died of cancer. Her parents, Kerrin and Grant, threw their weight behind a pilot fundraiser for the Childhood Cancer Foundation of South Africa at the cycle challenge in memory of their daughter.
The project caught the imagination of the race and the public and snowballed as a fundraiser and awareness drive for the fight against childhood cancer. Nationally, The Cows have raised more than R24-million for CHOC-related charities since 2015.
“The herd is really looking forward to the aQuellé Tour Durban this year and we are hoping to get as many riders that have entered the easy 45km ride to uMdloti and back to join us in the special charity batch,” said Gordon.
Any rider wanting to join The Cows herd for the 45km race will need to lodge a normal entry first and then notify Mamma Moo at the KZN herd via e-mail at durbsdaisy@thecows.co.za.
Normal entries are now closed and late entries will be taken at registration at Suncoast Casino and Entertainment World from 10am to 5pm on Friday, 22 and Saturday, 23 April. The 105km road race, 45km fun race and 55km cyclocross race take place on Sunday, 24 April.
