Launch of Social Cohesion Games and the Inauguration of the City2City Ultra Marathon in Sandton
The epic 50km odyssey is scheduled for March 31, setting forth from the Centurion Rugby Club at the break of dawn, 06:00, and concluding its legendary voyage at The Wanderers Sports Club in Johannesburg.
On March 14, at the Hilton Hotel Sandton, the honourable Gauteng Premier, Panyaza Lesufi, launched the 2023–24 premier’s social cohesion games and the rekindling of the City2City Ultra Marathon at the media briefing.
The games are an initiative of the provincial government, the Hellenic Italian and Portuguese (HIP) Alliance, and the Mmako Group, aimed at promoting social cohesion, nation-building, and mobilising citizens and communities against racism, women abuse, and child abuse, among others.
Addressing the media briefing, Lesufi said, “There is no doubt that sport plays a fundamental role in the development of social cohesion and nation-building.”
He added that through the medium of the social cohesion games and the City2City Ultra Marathon, they aspire to unite all Gauteng residents against all forms of racism, gender-based violence and femicide, xenophobia, and all forms of bias that threaten the foundations of nationhood and social harmony.
Lesufi highlighted that they firmly believe that sport possesses the alchemy to transcend the boundaries of race and politics and bind a nation in unity.
“After eight years, the City2City Ultra Marathon reemerges from the mists of time. This legendary race, spanning the expanse between Tshwane and Johannesburg, once a beacon of international acclaim, returns in an alliance orchestrated by the luminaries of Gauteng sports, arts, culture, and recreation, athletics South Africa, athletics Gauteng north, and central Gauteng athletics.”
Morakane Mosupyoe, the MEC for Gauteng Department of Sport, Arts, Culture, and Recreation, said, “These spectacles are crafted to elevate Gauteng Province as the Sanctum ‘Home of Champions’, nurturing wholesome lifestyles, social unity, and quelling strife and transgression through the conduits of education and sport.”
Mosupyoe pointed out that they herald a new era in promoting sport tourism in South Africa, with Gauteng as its radiant nexus.
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