The 2019 Dis-Chem Ride for Sight will take place on February 17.
This road race through the City of Ekurhuleni and the rolling grasslands of Suikerbosrand promises to be as popular as ever.
The event is a seeding event for the Cape Town Cycle Tour and is among the top five cycling events in the country and the second largest in Gauteng.
Local organisers include the City of Ekurhuleni, Retina South Africa, Dis-Chem Pharmacies, Springs Wheelers Cycling Club, Hamnet Emergency Communications, ASM Safety Consultants, Road Rangers, Red Cross and dozens of volunteer experts in the field or race organisation.
The main event, the 116 km Super Classic, will see the cream of South African cyclists competing for the Ernest Hunt Trophy and the top cash prizes.
The 62km Vita-thion challenge is a great ride for the novice or less energetic casual riders.
Around 6 000 cyclists are expected to take part and online entries at www.cycleevents.co.za are open until February 3.
Late entries will be taken at Cycle Lab, Boksburg until 2am on February 16 or at the stadium from 5am on race day.
Over R80 000 worth of cash prizes will be awarded to the top racing cycling categories, but fun riders also stand a chance to win big with over R120 000 lucky draw prizes on the day.
All cyclists who enter the donation draw stand a chance to win special draw prizes of a KTM road bike from Cycle Lab or a seven-night holiday for two at Michamvi Sunset Bay Resort in Zanzibar.
All of these donations will be matched by the Dis-Chem Foundation, so we appeal to participants to donate generously.
Both events start and finish at the Boksburg City Stadium, Jubilee Road, Boksburg, and due to roadworks at the stadium, Jubilee Road should be totally avoided from 5am to 2pm.
There will be traffic delays in the areas around Barry Marais Road, North Boundary Road, the R23 between Heidelberg and Boksburg, the Carnival City area, the R103 in the Vosloorus area, the Alrode, Leondale and Dawn Park areas.
Carnival City Mall traffic to and from Boksburg will also be disrupted and a new finish will affect Van Dyk, Tambotie, Louw streets and Airport Drive.
Residents are asked to use extreme caution and allow for the fact that these are expert cyclists and their speed should not be underestimated.
Residents should be encouraged by the fact that all the helpers on the day are volunteers and all proceeds will go directly towards finding treatments for retinal blinding conditions.
The event has raised over R10-million over the past 30 years and this entire amount has, and will continue to be, donated to research projects dedicated to finding treatments for genetic retinal blinding conditions such as retinitis pigmentosa (RP), macular degeneration (MD) and dozens of other rare and devastating forms of retinal vision loss.
For further information see www.cycleevents.co.za or call 087 820 4210.
For more information on retinal blinding conditions see www.retinasa.org.za or call Retina South Africa on 011 450 1181.
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