Middelburg Care Village has a friend in Catherine Juon, an American supporter who will take on the gruelling 1 000km Munga Equipe Cycling Tour in November, to help raise much-needed funds for the children’s haven.

It’s no joke to race non-stop for 1 000km across the arid Karoo in the summer, yet it’s on every serious cyclist’s bucket list nonetheless.

The race is essentially a relay tour with its name, Equipe, derived from the French term for ‘team’.

Juon met her partner Corné Ferreira during last year’s Munga, where they were introduced at a team dinner the night before the race started.

They struck up a conversation on the bus ride back from Wellington to Middelburg, with little sleep and some problems on the road.

She flew back to the US the following night, but Ferreira, who rides for the Care Riders team, continued to chat with her on WhatsApp, ultimately resulting in the two of them dating.

Juon, who lives in Southeast Michigan, near Detroit, said she hasn’t done many cycling events, but excelled in triathlons, which incorporate cycling, swimming, and running.

Juon calls herself an ‘adult-onset athlete’, having only cycled in the recreational RAGBRAI cycling tour across the state of Iowa.

Striking up friendships within the triathlon circles at age 39, Juon was inspired to practice harder to become more competitive.

She decided to research the Care Village after André Brandmuller, a Munga veteran, wooed her into becoming involved, with Juon also working closely with St Peter’s Christian College in Mhluzi.

Brandmuller regularly travels to America to entice new donors to become patrons of the Care Village.

Juon aims to raise enough money to cover a year’s tuition for the Care Village kids to attend St Peter’s, which is about $60 000 (US dollars), just over R1m, and also wants to spruce up nine of the Care Village units.

Juon started a non-profit called Empowering Change with Lee Willwerth, which is now in partnership with the Care Village.

Juon will be joining Jen and Mike Blekinsop, both patrons of the Care Village, alongside Muzi Khumalo (St Peter’s) and Lukas van Rooyen as a team this year.
Sadly, Juon was diagnosed with breast cancer in the year she did her first Ironman challenge, resulting in a double mastectomy, with Juon completing the Ironman around 12 weeks after the operation.

She said the warm and welcoming nature of SA’ffers won her over, though she’s not a big meat eater, having grown up in corn country. She picked up ‘tjorts’ to say cheers, and knows what a ‘paptert’ is. She does call biltong jerky, which has landed her in hot water more than once.

“Middelburg encapsulates all the things I love, and relocating permanently sounds pretty good to me,” Juon told the Middelburg Observer.