No brakes as Cycle Tour goes ahead
THE 2018 Cape Town Cycle Tour will go ahead despite the deepening water crisis in the city, event organisers announced yesterday.
Cape Town Cycle Tour director David Bellairs said the decision to proceed with the event was taken after careful consideration, taking into account that the Cycle Tour has a huge positive economic effect on the city.
“Over R500 million flows into the Western Cape economy during the week of the Cycle Tour,” Bellairs said.
“For the last decade, the Cycle Tour has been presented with a variety of challenges – from scorching temperatures exceeding 40 degrees to extensive fires raging across the South Peninsula and, last year, winds in excess of 100km/h.
“This is our year of water – or rather, no water.”
He said it was the organisers’ intention that the 2018 event would draw zero litres of drinking water from the municipal supply.
“Eliminating the event’s reliance on municipal drinking water will be achieved through a variety of strategies. These include bringing water in from upcountry for drinking and ice on the route, and using locally produced desalinated water for all cleansing purposes.
“Water stations along the route will be reduced to the 14 essential from a medical point of view.
“Approximately 15 000 riders participate in the Cycle Tour from outside the borders of the Western Cape, including international entrants. As we have their details on our system, we are able to communicate directly with them to ensure they understand the severity of the drought situation in Cape Town,” Bellairs said.
Those travelling by road to the Cape will be encouraged to bring sufficient drinking water with them for their own daily consumption.
Meanwhile, the Stellenbosch Municipality said it has received an application for the popular Colour Run event in the town next month, and will scrutinise the application.
The municipality is also facing dwindling water supplies and will be implementing Level 6 water restrictions from next month.
If the event does not comply with the water restrictions, the application will not be approved, municipal manager Geraldine Mettler said.
“The municipality has adjusted its event application process and is scrutinising all applications to make sure that it will not impact on our water restrictions.
“No event that will impact on our water restrictions will be approved,” she said.
The Colour Run’s national event co-ordinator, Craig McLennan, said organisers are highly sensitive to the crisis the province is facing.
“The Colour Run is bringing in water sachets for participants from Johannesburg, as it did for the Cape Town 2017 event.
“Cleaning will not require much water as evidenced at the Cape Town event – the clean-up was almost entirely dry with only 2 000 litres of non-potable water ordered from the Overberg district from a supplier who is licensed to provide mineral and non-potable water,” McLennan said.
The organisers have informed the local municipality that they will abide by the following restrictions: they will not be using any municipal water at the event; venue toilets will be locked; and the Colour Run will be supplying sufficient portaloos, which will eliminate the flushing of toilets by the public, he said.