Cape Town Recycle Tour

When the 2017 Cape Town Cycle Tour was cancelled, what happened to all the medals?

Cycle Tour Marketing Manager Adri Bootsma has confirmed to Bicycling that because no medals were issued at this year’s CTCT, the 2017 medals will be recycled for 2018.

In celebration of the Tour’s 40th anniversary, the 2017 medals were marked with a ‘40th edition’ logo – and because 2018 will now become the 40th edition, the organizers will simply add ‘2018’ to the date bar.

Bootsma cited the expense of new medals as the main reason for this exercise: “The cost of the medals is astronomical – we cannot just discard them.”

The 2017 race was cancelled after extreme winds created difficult riding conditions for the participants.

This will leave a few disappointed respondents to an advertisement placed on Gumtree on the day after the event. The ad offered 35 000 unused 2017 Cape Town Cycle Tour medals for sale. According to the seller, the medals would “BLOW you away with their quality”, and would be perfect for hosting a cycling event in 2017. The description noted the variety of different colours to choose from, some with the numbers ‘10’ and ‘21’ inscribed on them, which could be used for a birthday party “for either a 10-year- old or a 21-year- old”. Attempts to contact the advertiser proved unsuccessful.