UP TO 200 people will take part in the Habitat for Humanity Cyclathon at the V&A Waterfront’s amphitheatre next Friday and Saturday.
Diamond Thug, Richard Stirton, South Easters and the Royal Commoners will be performing at the Cyclaton. A raffle will be held every hour and tickets cost R20.
Megan Tromp, a pupil from Rustenburg Girls’ High and the head of the Habitat for Humanity BRIC initiative, said the cyclists were expected to raise R70000.
The BRIC committee hosts the event which is comprised of high school pupils from Rustenburg, Bishops, Westerford, Herschel Girls’ and Rondebosch Boys’.The students take turns cycling on stationary bicycles over a 25-hour period, between 5pm on Friday to 6pm on Saturday. Teacher Lorraine Gardiner, who’s in charge of the Habitat Society at Rustenburg, said: “The format is more or less the same every year.“Sometimes we have outside cyclists riding all night with the students, the bands that play differ each year, as do the prizes. “We will be going on a build at Mfuleni from February 20 to 24 .“ The girls love this event and the places are booked quickly.”
It’s the 11th year that Rustenburg is participating in the event. Adrienne Burke, marketing manager at Habitat for Humanity South Africa, said: “It has been highly successful. We are deeply grateful to the group.”
Habitat for Humanity assists in identifying community members to equip them to lead. They run workshops to help the community understand the costs, materials, regulations and basic architecture which goes into building houses.Burke describes their organisation as providing communities with a hand up rather than a hand out: “We work with the community through skills and development training. We empower communities to take the lead in their own lives.
“The V&A Waterfront has hosted the Habitat for Humanity Cyclathon since 2005. In the past 12 years, we have seen the event grow in popularity with increasing numbers of schools taking part and families coming out to support them. We are certain that the cyclathon will be just as popular, if not more popular, than last year.”