MIDVAAL. – Thousands of cyclists are preparing for the Midvaal Fast One Cycle Challenge that takes place on 29 January 2023.
The race, presented in 2023 for the 26th year, is an official Gauteng seeding event for the Cape Town Cycle Tour.
The one-day road race includes three route options: 97 km, 50 km and a new 28 km route, ideal for novices who have never completed in a cycle race before.
To enter, visit www.thefastone.org.

All finishers will receive medals.
The Midvaal Fast One Cycle Challenge is organised by Riverside Rotary Club. All proceeds will go to Rotary Charities.

A brief history of “The Fast One”

The event was staged 24 years ago for the first time in January 1995 and was named the Pick ‘n Pay Hyper to Hyper Cycle Race. It was the brain child of Nigel Southern, an employee of the Bedworthpark Hypermarket. Nigel started the race in remembrance of a friend and colleague who was killed by a motor vehicle, on a part of the existing route, while he was training on his bike.

The first event was organized by a small committee consisting of club members of the Riverside Pedal Pals Cycling Club and the Hypermarket staff. The race was run over a 100 kilometre route, which at the time started at the Steeldale Hypermarket in Alberton and finished at the Bedworthpark Hypermarket in Vanderbijlpark (hence the name Hyper to Hyper). It became clear that this would become a very popular race because it was the first race of the year, the route was fast and flat, and the date was ideal for starting training for the Argus Cycle Race which is usually held in March.

It was agreed that the event would be community orientated. Funds raised would be re-distributed back into cycling by the cycling club, by the Hypermarket which ran community charity events from within the store and by the Riverside Rotary Club, which supported local charities and destitute people in their local community. This was therefore the permanent and prevalent character of the race.

The early predictions for the growth of the race did indeed materialise and by 2006 it had become the third largest cycle race in the country. In 1997, the Rotary Club of Riverside was invited to come on board to assist with entry administration and marshalling.

In 2000, the Rotary Club of Riverside decided to get the involvement of other Rotary Clubs to do the marshalling along the route. Rotary Clubs in the vicinity of the route were asked to marshal in the various sectors in which the route was divided and therefore solving this extremely important logistic problem. A total of eleven Rotary Clubs have since then been involved, for whom the event provides a donation from the proceeds of the race. All these Rotary Clubs use the donation money to further their community projects.

During all the years that the Hyper to Hyper took place, several changes and modifications had to be introduced to cope with several factors like route, demands, new technologies, improved services at the finish as well as along the route and many more. After many changes, for the 2011 race the Rotary Club of Riverside became the sole interested party in staging the race . The intention was that the newly named  “New Fast One” would increase in numbers and hold on to several reputations it still has, namely  to be the fastest race in the country, to become the fourth largest race (in entrant numbers in South Africa, after the Cape Town cycle race, the 94.7 and Amashowashowa), to continue to be the safest race and the best marshalled race in South Africa.

Increasing awareness amongst the cycling fraternity necessitated companies being approached to provide sponsorships for the race. From 2013 to 2019, the race was renamed to the Value Logistics Fast One. It is currently known as the Midvaal Fast One Cycle Challenge.

In order to encourage cycling amongst newcomers, prize monies were allocated to novice riders who come first, second and third in open categories. It was however found that many winners did not attend the prize giving, so this was stopped for the 2020 race.  We  have spot prizes at the event as well.

Description of the event

The Fast One has route of 97km, 50km and 28km. The routes stretch mainly through scenic country sides with low traffic volumes. It is therefore not possible to have complete road closure as is the case in other large races. Excellent marshalling is necessary and this is provided by 10 service clubs who man the route. Marshalls are trained for their tasks that accompany this onerous responsibility.

Entries over the years

                        97km               50km               28km               Total  

2013                2593                653                                          3246

2014                2241                160                                          2401

2015                2728                528                                          3256

2016                3037                801                                          3838

2017                2979                704                                          3683

2018                2768                663                                          3431

2019                2567                672                                          3239

2020                2700                770                  220                  3690