A man with a mission

“The company I work for got involved with Vita Nova and we had some fun days there with the children. Last year around this time, they were facing closure and something about them and the work they do pulled at my heart strings,” says Pieter.

He has been an avid cyclist for many years, taking part in triathlons and other cycle races across the province regularly. This year will be his fourth year taking part in the 94.7 Cycle Challenge and the second time he is doing it for charity. He hopes to ride every year for Vita Nova.

“I was already entering into the race last year so I thought why not ride for a cause and knew I wanted to ride for Vita Nova to help them avoid closure.”

Last year, Pieter’s team attached a trailer to one of the bikes and one of the children from Vita Nova rode in it, experiencing the race as well.

“The spot in the race last year cost R12 000 which my team and I raised for the charity and I raised R9 000 for them myself,” Pieter says.

Last year, he got together a team of about 23 riders, most of whom are not able to race this year, so he is appealing to anyone who is going to ride this year or who wants to ride, to join him to ride for a cause. “If you are entering the race anyway, why not ride for the charity. We get professional shirts made for the team and we all just have fun and feel good about helping out a cause that does great work for their community.”

The money Pieter and his team raises only makes a dent in the costs needed to run the centre, but Pieter says the main reason for riding for Vita Nova is to create awareness. “We are hoping to get around 100 people in our team this year, which is very ambitious because so far we only have 19 people. Anyone who wants to join the team must first register with 94.7 for the race then contact me on 076 054 2076 or e-mail me at pietere@brds.co.za.”