Chasing a rally dream

Rudi Botha is a yes-man and despite all odds, he recently said yes to driving 8000 km over five countries in 18 days starting in Cape Town in the Put Foot Rally.

Known as the “Platgemoerde Pampoene,” Botha from Ballito and his team of three (Logan Pillay from Phoenix, Max Atkinson from the UK and Luke de Klerk from Westville) are scraping the barrel to make this rally a reality.

“We are leaving for Cape Town on Friday and we still do not have any big sponsors,” said Botha, who is a photographer and runs his own touring company.

To make matters worse, their one and only vehicle, Botha’s 16-year-old Mitshubishi Pajero, which has always been his faithful workhorse, has just undergone some serious trauma.

“The gearbox broke and finding a V5 steptronic automatic gearbox for an old Pajero is as rare as hens’ teeth.”

Despite these setbacks, Platgemoerde Pampoene are not going to give up and have started a Go Fund Me page (team180) to try raise funds and get the much needed sponsorship.

“We need sponsorship of about R30 000. We will give back to our sponsors in the form of branding on the vehicle, social media shout outs and even a free one day safari tour for two people depending on the value of the sponsorship.”

Besides trying to raise money for themselves to make the African adventure dream with heart a reality, they are also trying to raise funds for charity.

“We are raising funds for three charities – the Put Foot Foundation which provides African children with their first pair of shoes; Thula Thula Rhino Foundation who help rescue, rehabilitate and release rhinos that were poaching victims and African Wild Dog at Wildlife ACT who are involved in conserving wild dogs of which there are only 550 remaining in the wild. So far, we have only raised R5290.”

The Put Foot Rally is not about who is the fastest, but who has the endurance to make it and already, Rudi Botha has proven that he has endurance.

If you would like to get involved with this special mission and help the team get to the start line and finish the race with a possible return contact Rudi on rudi@kingdominthesky.co.za or check out their website www.team180adventure.com.

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