Paddle 67km for conservation on Mandela Day

IN a bid to raise funds, four Durban North and uMhlanga residents will participate in the #Shongweni67 challenge. The foursome will paddle 67km to raise funds for Conservation Guardians (CG) and the Shongweni Nature Reserve.

Hamish Lovemore, Scott Rogers, Jarred Visser, Tyron Maher, Michaela Geytenbeek and Cameron Hudson, who are taking on the challenge on Mandela Day, 18 July at 7am, are calling on other paddlers to support the cause. Results will be tracked via Strava App.

“It’s happening on Mandela Day which encourages people to act in the belief that individuals can have a large impact, especially if we all work together. The significance of the 67 kilometers is that it represents the 67 years that Mandela fought for social justice,” said Michaela Geytenbeek who has taken on the role of organiser for the challenge.

The challenge has been adapted this year to abide by lockdown regulations,” she added.

“It entails paddling 67 km on your respective water body. Due to Covid-19, paddlers are invited to join, but to participate wherever they would normally paddle. People can enter individually or as part of a relay team. For example, if you have a relay team of three, each person will paddle 22,3km. In order to enter, you have to pledge to raise R2000,” she said.

Paddling circles around the competition

The paddlers are planning to complete the challenge at the Shongweni Dam where they will complete 15-17 loops of a 4km route.

“I think it’s going to be a challenge, because with Covid-19 we haven’t been able to paddle. Trying to accumulate enough mileage to complete 67km in three weeks time is going to be a big challenge. It will probably take about eight hours. It’s going to be a long hard slog. It’s going to be quite repetitive and hard going,” said Geytenbeek.

Also read: Durban North student paddles Dusi for plastic research

The #Shongweni67 challenge was started by Greg Vogt and Sara Agostini of the Conservation Guardians. Funds raised will support several targets, including buying equiptment for field rangers, supplying resources to families that are struggling and kickstarting new projects such as the bee-keeping project and catering service.

“We teach globally and bring university students from abroad to southern Africa to fully understand biodiversity conservation, as opposed to wildlife management and single species preservation. Then there is the critical aspect of sustainability that speaks to biodiversity economy. Government documents on the biodiversity economy is full of ‘speak’ but at ground level there is a lack of action and concepts that work. Our key objective is to achieve ‘protected status’ for Shongweni Reserve and to establish a sustainable model for the reserve to ensure its longevity,” said Vogt.

Also read: Fairy tale Dusi ending for Haw sisters, Birkett and Nzimande

So far, 25 paddlers have signed up for the challenge, including Tamika Haw, ladies winner for the 2020 Dusi, is also taking part in the challenge.

“Shongweni is one of my favourite dams to paddle in. If it were not for the Shongweni weekly dices I strongly feel I would not have achieved the positions I did at dusi. It’s a little piece of paradise, just outside the big city. There are very few of these reserves left and I feel it is so important to protect this,” said Haw.

“We are trying to grow the challenge as large as possible because the more paddlers we have, the more funds we can raise and the larger the impact we can have,” added Geytenbeek said.

For more information, visit the #Shongweni67 back-a-buddy page.

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