One of the world’s most inclusive and popular sports festivals will touch down in South Africa for the first time when bodybuilding legend Arnold Schwarzenegger hosts the inaugural Arnold Classic Africa at the Sandton Convention Centre in Johannesburg from 27 to 29 May.
The African event, held in partnership with the Gauteng provincial government and the SA Sports Confederation and Olympic Committee (Sascoc), will form the latest leg of the Arnold Sports Festival, adding to established spectacles in the United States, Australia, Europe and South America.
Hosting professional and amateur athletes from across South Africa and around the world, half of whom are expected to be youths, the three-day festival will involve 47 sports and events.
We invite people of all ages to join us in celebrating amateur and professional sport, as we promote health and fitness.
“These events have proved successful around the world, and we expect the Arnold Classic Africa to be no different,” says Wayne Price, Arnold Classic Africa partner.
While it includes traditional disciplines such as acrobatic gymnastics, archery, badminton, baseball, beach volleyball, fencing, weightlifting and wrestling, there is a unique twist to the event which also showcases lesser known codes such as cross fit, dance sport, ringball, pole fitness and rope skipping.
With Schwarzenegger having founded the global series, the inaugural Arnold Classic Africa also hosts a number of strength-based contests, including amateur bodybuilding, arm wrestling, powerlifting, weightlifting and a strongman competition.
The pro bodybuilding contest will offer a R1,5 million total prize purse in the men’s open and women’s fitness divisions, giving local stars a rare opportunity to compete at the highest level on home soil, and the pro strongman competition, which will host some popular international personalities, will offer a prize purse of R800 000.
Other activities that will be on display at the inaugural African event include the Arnold Classic Model Search, Pole Fitness, Teen Challenge, Art, African Performers and African Crafts and a special ‘show case with Arnold’.
On top of this, the spectacular multi-sport festival includes the three-day Health and Fitness Trade Expo, which is expected to have more than 30 000 visitors people expected to attend the event, including a 10 500 athletes.
One of the premier marketing events of its kind, the Expo promises to deliver one of the largest annual gatherings of committed fitness enthusiasts on the continent.
The Arnold Classic was first launched in the US as a professional bodybuilding competition in 1989 but has since expanded to create an international series of multi-sport festivals, driven by Austrian-born Schwarzenegger, who is renowned as a seven-time Mr Olympia, Hollywood star and former Governor of California.
For more information on the Arnold Classic Africa visit www.arnoldclassicafrica.com
Want to receive news alerts via WhatsApp? Send us an SMS/ WhatsApp message with your name and cellphone number to 079 413 8726.
Familiarise yourself with our WhatsApp service disclaimer.
Do you perhaps have more information pertaining to this story? Email us at randfonteinherald@caxton.co.za (remember to include your contact details) or phone us on 011 693 3671.
For free daily local news on the West Rand, also visit our sister newspaper websites Roodepoort Record, Krugersdorp News and Get It Joburg West Magazine
Remember to visit our Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages to let your voice be heard!
