Cyclists from all over the world are gearing up for Tour d’Afrique, the world’s toughest bicycle tour, which stretches from Cairo to Cape Town and covers 10 African countries and a distance of 12 000km.
On January 14 next year, participants will start their 120-day journey from the ancient pyramids on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt. They will face 95 days of devoted cycling — an average of 125km a day — with only 23 days of rest. The tour is expected to finish in May in Cape Town.
Cyclists will witness amazing sites on their journey and travel past game reserves and ancient temples, across the foothills of Mount Kilimanjaro, and along the ancient landscape of Ethiopia’s Simian mountains and the edge of the Botswana’s Kalahari.
A press release from the Tour d’Afrique branch in Cape Town on Monday said out of the 51 currently registered participants, eight are South African.
Other participants already registered come from countries including The Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Germany, Canada, Belgium, the United States and France.
”The participants range in age from Canadian Sam Bail, who is the youngest at 19, to James Malone (67), also from Canada.
”Some of the riders have already ‘begun’ their tour. Mathew Caretti left his home in California on October 9 and is now cycling across the US in preparation for the tour. In his latest e-mail from Las Cruces, New Mexico, he begins with: ‘Every day is a journey. And the journey itself is home,”’ stated the release.
Theresa Brown, the Tour d’Afrique Cape Town spokesperson, told the Mail & Guardian Online on Monday that the organisers can accommodate 60 participants next year and that there are only nine places left.
”It’s just logistics [that we can only accommodate 60 cyclists]. If it starts getting bigger, we will look at the possibility of increasing it in 2007,” she said.
Entries close by mid-November, added Brown.
The tour has four different categories: racers, who plan to complete the entire race; expedition riders, who are allowed to cover the daily distance at their own pace and time; relay teams, for the corporate or club teams; and sectional riders, who only cycle a portion of the race.
The Tour d’Afrique is open to everyone over the age of 18. Individuals wishing to participate who are younger than 18 must provide a release from their legal guardian. No one under the age of 16 years is eligible.
Tour d’Afrique sections from start to finish
Cairo to Khartoum
Khartoum to Addis Ababa
Addis Ababa to Nairobi
Nairobi to Iringa
Iringa to Lilongwe
Lilongwe to Victoria Falls
Victoria Falls to Windhoek
Windhoek to Cape Town
On the net
www.tourdafrique.com