From the news desk

Cape Town Big Walk to do its bit for GBV to mark 20th year

Share this article

To mark its 20th year, the Cape Town Big Walk is upping the ante to raise money for the most pressing issue facing South Africa today – gender-based violence. Preparations are now underway for the Mother City’s most popular and longest-running walking event, expected to place on Sunday, 22nd March 2020. The walk will follow its traditional route from the Cape Town Stadium along the Sea Point Promenade and will conclude at the Hamilton’s Rugby ground in Green Point. The CTBW is proudly sponsored by WholeSun Bread and presented by Double O.

The 20th edition of the CTBW promises to be bigger and better with organisers pulling out all the stops to celebrate this milestone. The announcement was made at the official media launch in Cape Town on Wednesday evening. This gathering also paid tribute to former and current race organisers, sponsors and media partners who have supported this community event since its first race in 2000.

“The walk has achieved iconic status and is now the largest sporting event of its kind in Africa. The City of Cape Town, who is a strategic partner, has accredited this event as the third largest sporting event in the Cape Town social calendar,” said Dr Elias Parker, the director of marketing and sponsorship.

Dr Elias Parker

A special commemorative flame was lit and will continue to burn until race day.

“This flame symbolises the values of hope, health and enlightenment that has been the foundation of our race…We have been humbled by the outpouring of love and generosity that we have received from all corners of the world that has kept us going,” he added.
Amid a national outcry over the high levels of violence against women and children in the country, race organisers felt it important to use the CTBW as a vehicle to raise awareness about GBV. In this regard, it added a fourth beneficiary this year – the Saartjie Baartman Centre in Athlone – an emergency shelter that supports women and their children.

“We believe that if we stand together as a united community, we will be able to eradicate all forms of abuse that affect our women and children.”

The CTBW was initially conceptualised to be an income-generating project for the Academia Library but it has since gone on to fund many social welfare and development projects in the health and education sectors. Other beneficiaries of the 2020 event include the Red Cross War Memorial Hospital, PinkDrive – an NGO dedicated to creating and promoting awareness about cancer and the Academia Library.

Lamees Martin, PR manager for the Childrens Hospital Trust

 

Title sponsor, WholeSun Bread, said it has been a “tremendous honour” to be associated with the CTBW as the race gave the company an opportunity to “give back” to worthy causes that are empowering and saving lives.

“As a business that is entrenched in the community, we felt that it was imperative for us to get behind this event because we shared the same goals such as healthy living, social cohesion and education,” said spokesperson Shaboodien Roomaney:

“This will be our third year as a title sponsor and we are proud of our association with this wonderful event. On behalf of WholeSun Bread, we are committed to contributing towards creating a literate community and believe that this big walk is an ideal vehicle to achieve this goal.”

Big Walk chairperson Dawood Esack

Incentive for Early Online Entries
The 2020 CTBW will comprise of the 10km walk, 5km walk and 8km fun run/walk. Race organisers are encouraging walkers to enter online at www.capetownbigwalk.com to qualify for the early bird incentive.

“Our online entry system will go live on Thursday, 21 November 2019. All online entrants received by Friday 7 February 2020 will receive an official 2020 CTBW t-shirt. However, the first 1,000 online entrants will receive a commemorative 20th anniversary t-shirt and will be entered into a draw to win a Huawei hamper values at R4,000,” Parker said.

The CTBW committee is eyeing the 20,000-entry mark to commemorate the 20th anniversary of the walk.


Share this article

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

WhatsApp WhatsApp us
Wait a sec, saving restore vars.