Scottburgh rallies to save Sani2C bridge washaway
It is so good to see that spirit coming through when there is a disaster.
The local cycling community rallied together at the weekend as unseasonal downpours and resultant floods that ravaged much of KZN’s coastline left the KAP Sani2c’s iconic floating bridge at Scottburgh main beach in tatters.
It also threatened the race’s use of the iconic stage three feature just days before the start of the event, which got underway at Glencairn Farm in the Southern Drakensberg on Tuesday, 10 May.
While disaster threatened, the people of Scottburgh came together to recover the segments from the ocean, paving the way for the urgent rebuild of the bridge ahead of the popular mountain bike event from the mountains down to the coast.
“There were trees and a whole lot of debris that washed up against the bridge across Scottburgh lagoon which popped it and took it out to sea,” reported farmer Glen Haw.
“The Scottburgh community rallied around and they had fun on the beach on Sunday, pulling it all out and we want to thank them.
There were some pieces of the bridge that were beyond backline and between the surfers, the 4×4 club and the people of Scottburgh, they managed to get it back onto the beach and above the high water mark.
We now have it all back again so hopefully everyone will be able to ride along the bridge come Thursday when the first riders approach the finish.”
With the trail event getting underway on Tuesday, the pressure of making sure that everything is ready for the first event when they arrive in Scottburgh on Thursday is immense. However an optimistic and calm Haw believes that a problem of this nature brings the best out of the Sani2c communities.
“The communities, from Underberg all the way down to Scottburgh, all manage to pull together when something like this happens and it is great.
It is part of what we are trying to do in the areas and to see that old school community spirit coming through is incredible.
It is so good to see that spirit coming through when there is a disaster or something of this nature happens, because then you really see people rally together.
Despite it being a lot of work to get all the pieces of bridge out of the sea, I think the guys even managed to have a bit of fun with their 4x4s on Sunday. It is certainly going to be something they will remember forever,” said Haw.
