The 2010 Orapa Classic Charity Cycle event billed for the 28th and 29th of this month is expected to go ahead despite not having found a major sponsor as yet.
The event, which is one of the most demanding cycle challenges in the country, sees cyclists riding a distance of 240 kilometers from Palapye to Orapa, all for charity.
The first leg of the event, covering a distance of 125 km, starts on Saturday at Botsalo Hotel in Palapye and finishes off at Mmashoro Village before cyclists are ferried to the Khama Rhino Sanctuary where they will spend a night.
The second and final leg, which will be 115 km, will start from Mmashoro to Orapa.
Thapelo Molefe, the Chairman of Orapa Cycling Club (OCC), which will be hosting the event, says that proceeds from the event will be used to build a poultry project for four destitute families in Letlhakane.
He says ever since the event was changed into a charity event last year, they have only accumulated ten percent of the P80 000 needed to make the project a reality. The OCC chairman says they are expecting to achieve their target this year. He says the event will carry no prizes as it is a charity event but says they are still hunting for other sponsors to provide goody bags for participants.
Molefe says, based on the reception and participation of cyclists, they intend to make the charity cycle an annual event, which will be used to help more disadvantaged people across the country.
In its first year as a charity event last year, Molefe says the event attracted more than thirty athletes but more numbers are expected to take part in this year’s event. The Orapa Classic was started in 2006 as a 90 km competitive event but was later changed into a charity event in the past year to try and help the disadvantaged members of the community.
The event is hosted by the Orapa Cycling Club in conjunction with the department of Social & Community Development in Letlhakane.
