Riding to save the wild dogs
During the iMfolozi Challenge armed Honorary Officers work together with permanent staff guards to protect the riders and marshals.
The rugged Old Mutual Wild Series iMfolozi Challenge is unique for much more than its extraordinary environment.
On July 23 the 55km route will take about 300 mountain bikers through the beautiful and celebrated Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve in KwaZulu-Natal. It is an exciting and gruelling mountain bike challenge that runs its course through the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi Game Reserve, home of the Big Five and the African wild dog.
Money raised by the Old Mutual Wild Series iMfolozi Challenge will support the Wildlands Conservation Trust’s pledge to save the wild dogs of iMfolozi.
There are fewer than 5 000 wild dogs left in the African wild today, and not much more than 400 in South Africa, in two protected areas, the Kruger National Park and the Hluhluwe-iMfolozi reserve.
The wild dogs do not survive in agricultural environments because they hunt livestock and are also vulnerable to snares set by hunters.
About 75 officers volunteer to work for one or more weekends a month. During the iMfolozi Challenge armed honorary officers work together with permanent staff guards to protect the riders and marshals.
Before the event they set up the race village, fence off the campsite, put up showers and temporary power lights as well as route electricity to the main tent and finish.
They man 25 marshal points, three water tables and two river crossings as well as supplying race doctors and riding motorbikes for the television crews and photographers.
Teams at the campsite prepare fires in steel boilers for hot showers, run the drinks and coffee stand and co-ordinate radio and telephone control for the event.
On the Sunday after the event they take it all down and the natural order is restored.
The iMfolozi Challenge is one of five Old Mutual Wild Series events. The others, all trail runs, are the Golden Gate Challenge, the Mont-Aux-Sources Challenge, the Kruger2Canyon Challenge and the Three Cranes Challenge.
For more information on More than Yourself go to https://morethanyourself.co.za and on the Old Mutual Wild Series go to https://www.wildseries.co.za
Credit: Old Mutual Wild Series.
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