Winter Blood Run bikers pay it forward
IT WAS labelled as a winter blood run; not even a blanket of mist over most of Cape Town this past Saturday morning could stop hundreds of riders from arriving at the Wingfield naval base for a day of loud music, louder bikes, junk food, rider demos and blood donations.
From mid-morning until well into the afternoon, singly and in disciplined club rides, they poured into the venue, to stand good-naturedly in long queues for the privilege of “paying it forward”.
No matter how many wheels there are on our daily transport, none of us knows when we will need some corpuscular finance from the Blood Bank.
Host club the Strawdogs were delighted at the large turnout for an event organised at fairly short notice and publicised mostly on social media. Western Province Blood Transfusion Service spokeswoman Marlize van der Merwe confirmed later that 150 donations were received - 32 of them, crucially, from people who had never done so before, thus helping to expand the service’s donor base.
With the day’s badge of honour - a little plaster on the inside of the riders el- bow - in place, there was time to check out the shiny machines on display in an impromptu custom show, browse the bikewear stalls, get something to eat and drink, and move outside to watch the instructors from Biker Basics riding academy show just what is possible on a litre-class sports bike, even at little more than walking pace!
All day bikes rolled in and out, while groups of riders chatted and strangers became friends. But the comment that summed it all up came from WPBTS’ Van der Merwe, who said: “We always do well out of the bikers.”