Rebecca Jackman
AFTER nearly a month crossing deserts and travelling on narrow dirt roads, Cape Town cyclist Eugene Brookes rode the final leg of a 2 000km journey from Windhoek yesterday, ending at the Red Cross War Memorial Children’s Hospital.
His aim, he said, was to raise greater awareness about haemophilia as many people are naive about it.
He and his support partner on the road, Curt Warrin, left Windhoek on August 24.
Brookes cycled about 120km a day, with the longest day taking him 171km, while Warrin drove the support vehicle with the caravan they slept in en route.
Warrin said he went ahead to check roads, many of which were “terrible” and to see where they could sleep.
Their only break was for two days in Sossusvlei. But taking days off “breaks rhythm” so the rest of the time they just “kept moving forward” and ended up arriving at their destination four days earlier than anticipated.
Chairman of the South African Haemophilia Foundation Bradley Rayner was diagnosed at the Red Cross Hospital in 1964 at just three months old.
He said not enough people were aware of the condition or how to treat it. But 1 in 1 000 people have a bleeding condition and 1 in 10 000 are born with haemophilia, predominantly males.
They wanted to set up an organisation in Namibia similar to their own.
“We’re looking to help Namibia develop their capacity to treat haemophilia by using our expertise,” he added.
In a separate initiative, London-based online electronic music magazine Resident Advisor will set off to cycle more than 480km to the internationally renowned music festival Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE).
They will cross four countries with the aim of raising about R1.4 million for Bridges for Music for the Langa Township Music School.
l Read more about Brookes’s exciting journey at http://cyc ling4haemophilia.blogspot. com/ For information on haemophilia go to www. haemo philia.org.za.