DURBAN - Margate has become a biker’s paradise as hundreds of bikes of all types, brands and sizes poured into the South Coast holiday resort for a four-day bike fest.
“It’s magnificent, the best ever,” raved 70-year-old Brian McCarthy, a proud member of the Old Bastards, a Margate biking group. He was wearing headgear that resembled a World War I German helmet. “I wear it to stop getting sunburnt,” he said.
Members of the Old Bastards are aged from 30 to 73 and have to have been riding for more than five years to qualify.
The South Coast Bike Fest is a follow-up to the previous Africa Bike Week and this was the first year it was hosted by Ugu South Coast Tourism.
Organiser Vicky Wentzel said 17000 people had pre-registered. “The toll plaza told me that 1500 bikers had gone through the toll between 8am and 9.30am, which is great for the beginning of the first day,” she said.
An economic impact report from a previous biking event revealed it had been worth R247million to the region.