Tandem team pedals 600km for kids with cancer
The 24 hour tandem Cows - or rather Nguni bulls as Cusack prefers to be called - raised more than R12 000 for Choc with this challenge
SECUNDA – South Africa’s fastest tandem team for 2017, Brennan Anderson and Bryan Cusack, set off from Graceland Hotel, Casino and Country Club on Saturday morning, 20 October, to cycle more than 600km to Durban in an effort to raise money for Children with cancer (Choc).
The team are part of The Cows, an initiative to raise awareness and funds for Choc.
Cusack said they set themselves the challenge last year of becoming the fastest tandem team in South Africa by winning the three major races – The Argus, The Amashova, and the 94.7 – consecutively.
“After we had managed to do this, we were looking for another fresh challenge for 2018.
“We had seen the work that The Cows and Choc do for kids and decided that our next challenge would have to be a charity ride of some form for them.”
Cusack said many people ride 50km, 100km, and sometimes even longer events on behalf of The Cows.
“But we have not heard of anyone who had ridden more than 600km non-stop for them. So that became our goal.”
However, there is a twist to the 600km ride – they have to cover the distance within 24 hours.
“After the decision was made to ride “long”, our next decision became about when. We decided to have it start the day before and finish with the Amashova to include the added difficulty of racing the final 100km.”
Cusack, who is also referred to as the crazy Irishman, and Anderson departed at 10am from Graceland under the applause from local Cows.
They arrived in Pietermaritzburg well in advance of the 106km Amashova race to Durban.
“We had to wait around for about 90 minutes before the start.”
Having already spent 520km on a bicycle, the team was tired and sore, but still finished third in the Shova.
“We were on the tandem for more than 18 hours non-stop and wearing summer gear while it became progressively colder. The temperature dropped dramatically during the night,” Cusack told the newspaper.
Cusack and Anderson cycled the distance at an average speed of 45km per hour.
“The wind helped tremendously, especially on the Amajuba pass between Volksrust and Newcastle.”
The 24 hour tandem Cows – or rather Nguni bulls as Cusack prefers to be called – raised more than R12 000 for Choc with this challenge.
“It is such a worthy cause. I saw what amazing work Choc does and that is what motivated us to take on this venture.”
Will they attempt this again?
“I do not think so. We did not realise how tough it would be,” admitted Cusack.
