Freedom Challenge: a story of South African generosity

The Freedom Challenge is well known in cycling circles and among endurance sport enthusiasts as a series of mountain bike events held along the Freedom Trail.

What’s not as well-known is the generosity that surrounds this trail.

It has a small group of slightly obsessed people who ride and follow these events. Their collective noun is “Dot-watchers”, they’re also known as Freedom Family.

This family means that you’re friends before you have met.

It means if you’re not riding, you’re “dot-watching” (following a tracker online).

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It means you’re “proxy family” at every finish for every rider that crosses the line (as the finish lines are often so remote that there are very few others there).

It means you lie awake rooting for a stranger to get over some adversity and make it to a warm bed.

It has you willing them on at every moment.

You gain an appreciation for our spectacular country and the very, very special people that live here.

The Freedom Family extends beyond the riders, their families, the race office, and supporters. This family is carried by the amazing people that live on the trail.

Those who year after year open their homes to accommodate muddy, smelly, hungry cyclists at all hours of the day and night.

Those on the trail who are happy to cheer riders along and give directions to the nearest spaza shop.

Every year we hear stories from the trail which live in the heart of every rider who has been out there.

Stories of riders being invited into rural homes in adverse weather, late at night, are commonplace.

Families sharing their meals and a spot around their fire.

In the recent Freedom Circuit 700km event, which is GPS navigated (unlike the other FC events that use maps and compass), a cold front hit caused large amounts of cold rain on the trail and had participants looking for shelter.

A number of the riders were provided with a warm place to shelter from the elements, something to eat, and even clothing, by strangers.

Mike Woolnough spent a moment around a fire sharing a mielie with Papelo, while covered in his warm jacket, with very little common language between them.

“They continued sitting there in silence. Two men, one from a world of privilege the other from a life of need. In that place, their roles were reversed, albeit temporarily.

“Mike needed warmth and shelter and Papelo met that need without hesitation or question from the little that he had. They sat around the fire as two men sharing the simple yet vital comfort of the fire as well as the presence of each other’s company.”

Ingrid Avidon and Sandy Maytham-Bailey were invited into Nolwazi’s home, where she was busy preparing for a funeral but welcomed in these two freezing, soaked, “crazy ladies on bicycles” and had them warm, within an hour, and back on their bikes with a pile of extra clothes for the rest of their journey.

“Their arrival was met with great excitement. From the kitchen area, women emerged to greet the freezing abelungus. They were given seats between the boiling pots and gas burners to warm themselves up.

“They were wrapped in blankets and served hot coffee. An elderly lady with a wicked glint in her eye offered [Ingrid] a sip of Vodka from her half jack and a sniff of her snuff. Ingrid resisted the temptation.”

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This South African generosity has brought about a charity called the Freedom Challenge Scholarship Fund (FCSF), which educates children from the rural areas that the trail traverses.

These children have academic potential and the FCSF allows them to attend the Mariazell Mission school.

It’s amazing to see how quickly the Freedom Family can empty their pockets for the FCSF.

When a student needs a laptop for online varsity lessons, six minutes after the call goes out, she has a new one.

Since the FCSF’s inception in 2010, and accumulated 150 years’ worth of education, benefiting 54 learners, has been raised for the fund and only a few hundred people have ridden the events.

It’s not only the FCSF that benefits, Adrian Saffy rode the Freedom Circuit to raise funds for Children in the Wilderness (almost R12 000).

Tertius van Staden finished his ride to find out that his colleagues at work were backing him for every kilometre he completed, as this was his first attempt at anything like this.

They raised almost R16 000 which he then donated to ‘Hanna Charity and Empowerment Foundation’.

The Freedom Challenge Race Across South Africa (RASA) and Race To Rhodes (RTR) start on June 21.

RASA traverses the entire trail from Pietermaritzburg to Paarl and crosses many South African landscapes and mountain ranges, and it is in the Maluti section of the trail that you will find the Mariazell Mission School where FCSF beneficiaries attend school from grade 10 to matric.

For the past 125 years, the school has been quietly producing African leaders who are shifting levers of power at key South African institutions.

Brothers, Nigel and Adrian Payne start RASA on July 1, for their fourth year together.

After completing last year’s event they committed to pay for five years of education with the FCSF.

The Payne Brothers, Nigel and Adrian said: “As a thank you to our mom and dad for opportunities, and as a thank you to all who make it possible for u to ride the Freedom Challenge Race Across South Africa, we commit R14 000 annually for the next five years to give someone an opportunity.

“We don’t want to know who the student is, and we don’t want the student to know about us, but they should look up to the Mphrane Ridge and the mountains above their school. The Payne brothers will be there each year, on their mountain bikes, riding the Freedom Challenge Race across South Africa.”

The Freedom Family community consists of people who love these events, people who host and support these crazy adventurers, people who want to increase the opportunities open to young South Africans, people who love to ride bikes in the most spectacular parts of our southern provinces, and people who support those out there living their dreams.

So, if ever you’re wanting to join this family, enter one of the events, follow a participant’s “dot” as they travel across the country by bicycle, or support a family member by learning as much about their experience as possible.

And, if you feel inspired by our Freedom Family or are looking for a charity to donate to monthly, perhaps consider the Freedom Challenge Scholarship Fund.

The Freedom Family is always looking to welcome new members to the family.