By Bontle Moeng
Prize money for this year's Pick 'n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge has been upped to R150 000, from last year's R75 000.
The annual cycle race, to be held on Sunday 16 November, is into its 7th year and is expected to attract some 22 000 participants. According to organisers, the Johannesburg race is the world's second largest timed cycling event after that of the Pick 'n Pay Cape Argus Cycle Tour.
The race, which begins at Woodmead Drive, near the Makro, at 5.30am, and finishes at the AA Kyalami Racetrack, will take in 17km of the M1 motorway and 16km of the N14. It will also pass over the Nelson Mandela Bridge in Braamfontein. The leading cyclists, taking part in the professional 180km event, are expected to complete their route in about four and a half hours. Twenty-two top cyclists have signed up for this race.
Amateur cyclists ride a somewhat shorter route of 94.7km and are given six hours to complete their circuit. Back markers have until 3.30pm before the race is declared closed. The starting time for the shorter event is 9.30am.
Residents of the city are warned that a large number of roads around Johannesburg will be closed during the event, except for emergency vehicles. "All the roads along the route will be closed to all traffic on 16 November," according to event coordinator Samantha Durkin of Harford Sports Promotions. "Roads will be physically closed off with traffic cones, straw bales and fencing and no cars will be allowed on the route while it is closed."
On the day, police officers, marshals and garage attendants will hand out flyers identifying alternative routes to motorists, Durkin said.
Representatives from the Joburg Metropolitan Police Department, the Johannesburg Roads Agency and the Gauteng Department of Public Transport, Roads and Works will be out in force to ensure the safety of both cyclists and residents.
Roads will be closed at specific times and will be reopened once the race has passed on from that area, Durkin said. "During the closure no cars will be allowed to cross over the route. Once the road is open again normal traffic flow can continue."
The following roads are expected to reopen at the times indicated:
- 11am: R55, Woodmead Drive, M1 South Bound Carriageway, Carr Street, the Nelson Mandela Bridge and Bertha Street.
- 1.30pm: Jan Smuts Avenue, Hendrik Verwoed Drive, Homestead Avenue, Cumberland Street, Moray Road, Douglas Avenue, Witkoppen Road, Northumberland Street, Honeydew West, Boundary Road.
- 2.15pm: Hans Strydom Drive (R512)
- 3.30pm: N14, R511 (Diepsloot), R562 or Summit Road
- 4.30pm: R55
This year the organisers have made sure that residents living along the route have been informed of the road closures. About 500 000 information brochures were handed out to residents within a 5km radius of the route. A further 800 000 flyers were distributed along with electricity accounts, Durkin said.
"We have also made provision for emergencies." If they have an emergency, residents can get in and out of their homes, she added.
Local radio stations, Highveld Stereo and 702 Talk Radio, have also broadcast information about the impending road closures.
"Two weeks prior to the event we will also start using forecourt television in 20 garages along the route to inform motorists about the Pick 'n Pay 94.7 Cycle Challenge," Durkin added.
"We will also be placing 1 000 traffic advisory signs along the route informing people that the road will be closed on 16 November."
For fuller details of the route and the road closures residents can go to www.highveld.co.za or call 0862 947 947. "There is an interactive map online, as well as an alternative route map," Durkin said.
Organisers of the Pick 'n Pay Cycle Challenge are Pick 'n Pay, 94.7 Highveld Stereo, Harford Sports Promotions, and Midrand Country Cyclists.
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