Subaru Gaborone will sponsor the two day Mountain Bike race, the Subaru Kalahari Challenge, which will start on July 25.
The race, which has become popular in Botswana, South Africa and Namibia since its debut in 2006, will see contestants cover about 95km on day one, and endure approximately another 85 km on day two.
The riders will start off at Game City and proceed to Lobatse slipping off at the overnight stop in Otse.
Day two will begin at the overnight stop with competitors pedaling towards the Gaborone Yacht Club to the finishing line.
“We are sure that our partnership for 2009 will be even stronger and therefore better for the riders,” said Carlos De Abreu, the Managing Director of Subaru Gaborone, who are sponsoring the event with the Gaborone Cycling Club (GCC). Kingsley and Associates’ Kim van Zyl, whose role as Event coordinator encompassed all aspects of the event, including soliciting sponsorships, registrations, and entertainment, amongst others, says that they had been successful in sourcing for sponsors.
“The organising is going very well at this stage, but we are still waiting to hear from a lot of our potential sponsors. This event relies largely on sponsors to make it a success,” said Van Zyl, adding that the greatest challenge in organizing the event is meeting each rider’s expectations.
“My intention is to ensure that we have done everything humanely possible to ensure a magnificent event.”
The race is limited to 100 teams. With only 2 months left before the challenge, it seems the event is a full house already.
According to GCC’s media liaison officer, Peter Sekwale, 50 teams have already registered for the race, the majority being South African teams.
Last year’s winners, Callan Gan and Gordon, have also registered for this year. Ad├¿le Tait, the Editor of Ride magazine, which is the oldest cycling publication in South Africa, has also registered for the 2-day race.
Subaru and the Gaborone Cycling Club, the orgasnisers, promise the participants a great package, as the first Botswana resident team will be awarded good cash prizes and impressive trophies that could not be disclosed by the time of going to press.
All participants will receive a high quality event-specific mountain bike shirt. Meanwhile, the GCC has organized another cycling event, the Gaborone Garage & Cycles Kopong 80 km Cycle Challenge which will be on the 24th of May. The race will be on the Kopong road and will include a 5km off-road race for kiddies. The main sponsor for the event is Gaborone Garage & Cycles and the proceedings of the event will go to the Young Women’s Christian Association (YWCA).
Other categories are the 30kms, and the 60kms Mountain bike races and the 40kms and 80kms road races.
