The Cows set for 100 Miles Of Nowhere

HAVING ridden in every edition of the 100 Miles Of Nowhere cycling fundraiser, teenager Lauren Varty can’t wait to jump back on her static bike and cover the 160km kilometers on Friday 24 June as a celebration of what this project has achieved in a short space of time.

The local resident is pursuing her dream of becoming a vet with a first year B.Sc at the University of Pretoria, was instrumental in establishing The Cows in KwaZulu-Natal, a group of passionate athletes who take part in popular endurance sporting events to raise funds and awareness for Childhood Haematology and Oncology Clinics (CHOC) for children battling cancer.

With a target set of R250 000 for the project, Varty is excited and humbled by what started on a much smaller scale in 2011.

“I was only fourteen at the time. We had just joined The Cows after the 94.7 Cycle tour, and we decided to do a version of the 100 Miles Of Nowhere that was run by American blogger The Fat Cyclist. We had to break it up into four 40km sections to make sure I could handle it. Eight of us first did 40 kilometres in five kilometre laps on the Durban beachfront, then we went to Hillcrest and did 1,5km laps, then to a cul-de-sec where we did a hundred 400 meter laps, and finally we did 40 kilometres on indoor trainers,” she recalls.

As a teenager determined to make a difference to the charity that she stumbled on in 2011, she is in awe at how the 100 Miles Of Nowhere project has grown in such a short space of time.

“I heard that the target of R250 000 has been set for the ride this year. To be able to aim at a figure like that, and to know that it is now happening nationally at all eight Cadence centres is really humbling,” said Varty.

Entries are limited at each of the Cadence centres in Durban North, Westville, Hillcrest, Ballito and Pietermaritzburg, are allocated on a first-come-first-served basis by booking on the event website, www.100milesofnowhere.co.za.