Entries for the Cape Town Argus Cycle Tour are now open. Enter here to get your entry in before it’s too late. Here’s to hoping the weather Gods are kinder to the participants than this years event.
Cape Argus Cycle Tour 2010
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Author Archives: Bradley Voges
World Tourirsm Month
September is World Tourism Month and Cape Town Tourism is celebrating with the launch of a World Tourism Month mini-site.
The theme for this year is “Tourism – Celebrating Diversity”, and where better to do this than in South Africa’s Mother City, with its reputation as a free-spirited, cosmopolitan melting pot of cultures?
Click here to see Cape Town Tourism’s calendar of World Tourism Month events
“Diversity is one of the driving forces behind tourism and can allow all nations to share the numerous benefits brought about by building stronger ties with other countries. As such, tourism is an undisputed catalyst for building understanding, fostering social inclusion and promoting higher standards of living.
“This type of unity and collaboration is increasingly important as the world comes together to face climate change and ensure sustainable development, particularly in the context of the current economic crisis. These worldwide partnerships allow for a more effective and global response to issues which concern us all.”
World Tourism Day message by Taleb Rifai, Secretary-General a.i. of UNWTO, taken from the UNWTO website.
DA wins Western Cape
Pretoria – The DA can take sole control of the Western Cape government after winning an outright majority in the province with more than 51% of votes.
The Independent Electoral Commission said early on Saturday that the party had taken 51.46% of the vote, nearly double its tally in 2004 and a resounding victory over the ANC whose vote share fell sharply to 31.55%.
“Yes, the DA won an outright majority,” IEC communications manager Trevor Davids said, but added that the results had yet to be formally declared.
It is the first time since the end of apartheid that a party has scored an overall majority in the province and the result of a driven campaign by DA leader Helen Zille to unseat the ANC.
Cope won 7.74% of votes and knocked the Independent Democrats into third place in the province. The ID slipped from 7% five years ago to 4.68%.
Zille has promised supporters that as the new premier of the Western Cape she will serve the interests of all people in the province, where racial divides run deep.
“We will try to govern as well as we can to show that life is better for everybody under the DA,” Zille said late on Friday after arriving at Cape Town airport to a hero’s welcome.
Alliance with smaller parties
Although the election result means that the DA does not need coalition partners in the provincial legislature, Zille has hinted that she might still form an alliance with smaller parties.
She will be taking control of the province after receiving good reviews of her three-year stint as mayor of Cape Town, which boosted the DA’s campaign in the hotly contested province.
The ANC, on the other hand, has been weakened by leadership problems in the province, where it took 46% of votes in 2004.
The Western Cape is the only region where the opposition has managed to wrest power from the ANC in this week’s elections.
Early on Saturday the DA was lying at 20% in Gauteng, while the ANC had victory firmly in hand with more than 64% of the vote in the province.
Zille has charged that a constitutional amendment approved by the Cabinet on the eve of the elections was a blatant attempt by the ANC to limit the powers of local governments, particularly those under control of the opposition.
- SAPA
News24.com
Two Oceans Marathon 2009
This coming Saturday the 11th of April welcomes the 2009 edition of the Two Oceans Marathon.
The Old Mutual Two Oceans Marathon has earned a reputation as the world’s most beautiful marathon. The first race was held in 1970 and saw 26 runners line up to face the unknown challenge. Since then, the race has become a national institution and a firm favourite with local, upcountry, and international athletes. The event attracts close to 26 000 participants across the ultra, half marathon and the fun runs and provides them with a mixture of breathtaking scenery, a gruelling test of fitness for both the elite and recreational runner, and an unrivalled race organisation and atmosphere.
Participants consistently vote it as one of the best in South Africa and it continues to attract strong fields and an increasing number of international entrants. The event has become synonymous with the Easter Weekend in Cape Town, with the pre-race activities at the expo, family day, and fun runs on Easter Friday. En-route entertainment on the race day provides fun, excitement, and a unique experience to runners, family, friends, and spectators alike.
Old Mutual is proud to continue its association with this great event, which is the premier event in their road-running portfolio. Participants can choose from various distances – the scenic 56km ultra-marathon or popular 21km half-marathon and the 5km or 2.5km fun runs.
(www.twooceansmarathon.org.za)
Cape Town Jazz Festival
10th Annual Cape Town International Jazz Festival
The Cape Town International Jazz Festival has grown into a hugely successful international event since its inception in the year 2000. Attendance figures have increased from the initial 14 000 to 32 000 in the last nine years.
Melodytrip has ranked this proudly South African event as No.4 in the world, outshining events such as Switzerland’s Montreaux Festival and the North Sea Jazz Festival in Holland.
The festival’s winning formula of bringing more than 40 international and local artists to perform over two days on five stages has earned it the status of being the most prestigious event on the African continent.
Known as Africa’s Grandest Gathering, the festival which will be in its tenth year when it takes place on Friday 03 and Saturday 04 April 2009 at the Cape Town International Convention Centre. Once again Cape Town international Jazz festival will thrill loyal and new fans with world class music.
For more information visit Cape Town Jazz Festival
Cape Town Argus 2009
“Wind plays havoc at Argus – Sport24.co.za
Cape Town – Winds of up to 60km/h wreaked havoc at the Cape Argus Pick ‘n Pay Cycle Tour on Sunday, collapsing tents and scaffolding.
A woman broke her arm when the breakfast tent at the start of the race collapsed with her inside, said joint operations manager for the event Brad Geyser. She had since been taken to hospital to have the broken limb set.
Geyser said: “The wind did a lot of damage. We didn’t expect it to be this strong.”
The start of the race itself was delayed 54 minutes because of the wind, with wind speeds of 40km/h measured at Chapman’s Peak and 60km/h elsewhere on the route, he said.
Scaffolding erected at the Allan Gray building, near the finish line, collapsed, crushing three cars, but injuring no-one. A tent at the finish line also came down.
Most of the structures erected for the race at the start and finish lines had to be taken down because the wind was so severe, said Geyser.
The Greenpoint stadium construction site, where most of the hospitality tents were erected in sandy ground, became a “dust bowl” which the fire department had to water down, he said.
Geyser said heat was not a problem during this year’s race, because the wind had a “cooling effect”.
In some areas there was such a wind chill factor that cyclists had to be warned not to stop.
In one of the nastier incidents, a woman cyclist hit the tar face first in the Perdeberg, breaking both collar bones and sustaining scratches on her face.
Another cyclist’s ribs were crushed when he came off down Chapman’s Peak. A doctor on a motorcycle immediately attended to him and he was taken to hospital right away.
Although 35 000 cyclists entered this year, only 25 600 started the race, said the organisers. The wind had resulted in much slower times than usual, they said.”
I too took part in this years Argus Epic. I was meant to start at 08.42 but due to the delays only got going closer to 10.00. I’m sitting here at my PC with very sore legs and odd sun tans but a generally satisfying feeling that I completed what is going down as the toughest Argus ever. The excessive wind as well as the addition of Boys Drive to the route certainly made for different prospect compared to the past 3 tours that I’ve taken part in. Well done to all those that completed the race… Next event on the calendar is the Two Oceans half marathon.
For a good overview of the race have a look at the following link: photo slide it includes pics of Matt Damon who also completed the race.
Cape Argus Cycle Tour 2009
The 2009 edition of the Cape Argus cycle tour is around the corner. For the riders there is no more time for training, the next 10 days will be spent on watching the diet, making sure your equipment is in order and getting nervous.
Whether you’re a rider, a spectator or a resident in Cape Town, the following information will be interesting to you:
Click here if you would like to see a birds eye view of the route
Click here if you need more info on starting times
Click on the following link for information on road closures
Greenpoint Stadium Photos
