Cycling for disabilities – Grocott's Mail

By CHANEEZ SIAS

Cyclists stretching their muscles and cooling down of their completed hour before hydrating to get ready for the next session.
Photo: Chaneez Sias

The Rhodes University Indoor Cycling Society hosted their sixth annual twelve-hour fund raising cyclathon on Saturday 15 September. The event took place at the Rhodes University Gymnasium and this year Rhodes chose the Enabled Society to be the recipients of the funds raised. A total of R25 000 was raised to donate to the society by the end of the event.

The cyclathon started at 8am and finish by 8pm and throughout the day there were a variety of different instructors to lead the hourly sessions which included water breaks and stretches. Every instructor selected their own themes and songs that related to that specific theme in order to hype the cyclists and keep their enthusiasm at a high level.

The number of cyclist’s varied for each hour and ranged from 12-16 cyclists, but Sbusiso Mukhari, who is a member of the Rhodes spinning class, was the only cyclist who did the full 12 hour session; cycling a total of 294km. He encouraged people to sign up and participate in the event for next year, because he believes that it is for a great cause.

Ashleigh Redman and Catherine Roland cycled for 6 hours each and reached a total of 164km and 133km, respectively.

Representatives of the Enable society and Nedbank stand united with the organizer of the event, Phemelo Hellemann.
Photo: Chaneez Sias

Phemelo Hellemann, the section manager of the Rhodes University Health Suite indoor cycling, planned the event alongside the assistant manager, Noni Tusi. The event was sponsored by local businesses in Grahamstown including Booster Juice, CrossFit, Good Hope Cycle, Grahamstown Pharmacy, Handmade Coffee, Mad Hatters cafe, Mustard Seed, Oasis, Oscars, Red Café, Salon Gaveroch, The Highlander, Wallace Pharmacy and Wild Horizon. These sponsors gave out spot prizes to participants during the course of the day.

There were a total of 153 participants who each donated R30 or more per hour and reaped all the exciting health benefits from the event. Taryn Benade, Chairperson of the Enable Society, stated in an interview that the society only became active in 2018 because of a lack of funds. Enable society aims to make the University more accessible for the disabled persons and to raise awareness about the difficulties of getting around campus.

The managers would like to extend a special thanks to African Bank and Gateway Delta Property holdings (resident in Mauritius) for their massive contributions of R10 000 each. The event ended on a high note with a live DJ and fancy lights with the entire 20 bicycles being occupied in the last hour of the event. Benade will be receiving the R25 000 cheque soon.