Comrades legend Bruce Fordyce with his dream team of ultra-marathon runners have won the BrightRock Battle of the Sports Challenge, winning ultimate bragging rights over Team Rugby, Team Cricket and Team Soccer.
Fordyce’s team also includes Bongmusa Mthembu, David Gatebe and Jenna Challenor.
“It’s been an exceptional experience and a privilege to watch these world-class athletes battle it out over the gruelling 200km endurance race on the Verneukpan in the dry salt pans of the Northern Cape,” said Grinsport Consulting CEO Clive Grinaker, who initiated the event.
Grinaker added that the challenge, with the support of BrightRock, the event’s founding sponsor and partner, has always been about doing something bigger than individual interest and rather about making positive change by helping raise money for vulnerable communities most hard hit by Covid-19.
To date, R500 000 has been raised for vulnerable communities affected by the pandemic and the funding is already being used in handovers arranged by the Right to Care team.
In the last two weeks alone critical food parcels, essential goods and PPE have been donated to the elderly at Thembalami, to the elderly and disabled at Itlhokomeleng Association in Alexandra and Nazareth House in Yeoville, to the children at Luvuyo Orphanage, and to children and adults with profound intellectual and physical disabilities at Tumelo Home in the heart of Ivory Park.
Other sponsors of the competition include Fireblade Aviation, Northern Cape Tourism Authority, Nature Hike Africa, Landrover Centurion, XCO and Biogen and Monate Coffee.
Highly emotive and heartfelt messages were given by all of the competing athletes and sports managers at the Awards Dinner. From an athlete’s perspective, Makhaya Ntini summed up the sentiment when he said, “This is by far the hardest thing we have ever done. It tested our patience, our pain thresholds and really gave us an opportunity to think about what positive changes we want to make in our lives going forward.”
Fordyce, team manager of Team Running, also encapsulated the general spirit when he said, “No one team is a winner tonight, we are all winners. We are humbled to have been given this incredible opportunity to do something positive in such a challenging time.”
Teams which competed in the challenge:
• Cricket: Lance Klusener, Makhaya Ntini, Monde Zondeki. Managed by Jonty Rhodes
• Rugby: Hanyani Shimange, John Smit and Schalk Brits. Managed by Butch James
• Running: Bongmusa Mthembu, David Gatebe and Jenna Challenor. Managed by Bruce Fordyce
• Soccer: Matthew Booth, Siyabonga Nomvethe and Teko Modise. Managed by Neil Tovey
Also Read: It’s been a good athletics year – Strydom
