Words & Photo: Uproar Communications PTY Ltd
Land Rover Pietermaritzburg and Peugeot Pinetown, vehicle sponsors of the Nine Peaks Challenge are proud to bid farewell to Team Zodwa as they embark on an epic adventure to raise funds towards the construction of Imbalenhle Community Centre in Pietermaritzburg on behalf of Meals on Wheels Community Services. The team sets off on 24th April 2014.
The eight South Africans taking on this incredible journey include renowned Mountaineer and Adventures Grand Slam alumni, Sean Disney who is one of only five South Africans on the 29 member Adventures Grand Slam list. Outdoor enthusiasts, Kobus Brelsler and Rene Winter join Disney as part of the #blueteam. Bresler holds the solo record for the Nine Peaks Challenge and completing the #blueteam quartet is 15 year old Jordan Williams, who is set to become the youngest South African to complete the challenge. Leading the #blueteam will be the #pinkladies team, Team Zodwa’s Kim Williams and Irene Rugheimer, businesswoman Sane Nkabinde and South Africa’s Adventure girl, Pamela Buckle.
Team Zodwa Project Manager, Irene Rugheimer says; “We’re grateful for the support we have received from Land Rover Pietermaritzburg and Peugeot Pinetown, they’ve really powered Team Zodwa to take on this challenge. We’re also proud to have put together an incredible team of South Africans who are ready to take on this gruelling challenge to raise funds for a good cause”.
Project Director for Meals on Wheels, Gershon Naidoo says, “We are passionate about feeding our nation and as such are proud to be associated with Team Zodwa, whose passion for raising awareness and funds fits right in with ours. This is an incredible adventure and we, at Meals on Wheels would like to wish the teams best of luck for this journey”.
Meals on Wheels Community Services is a non-profit organisation that’s been serving South Africa for 50 years, they serve the basic needs of the poor, vulnerable, disabled and aged in our communities and provide a basket of services to various communities including 280 serving points which provide cooked meals throughout the country.
This adventure will begin at 01h00 on the morning of Thursday 24th April in Qwa-Qwa with a summit to the top of Namahadi, located in the Free State province. The team will then travel to Mafadi in the central Drakensberg, before travelling nearly eight hours to reach KwaDuma north of Matatiele in the Eastern Cape. On the morning of day three, the team will drive 10 and a half hour to reach Murch Point near Nieu-Bethesda before driving seven hours to Seweweekspoort Peak in the Cape. From here they will hit the road, driving nearly 16 hours to reach Nooitgedacht-west near Hekpoort near Magaliesberg in the North-west province. The last leg of the race will see the team take on Iron Crown in Limpopo, De Berg in Mpumalanga to finish off at Toringkop in south of Johannesburg.
The team will travel more than 3000 kilometres in custom branded pink vehicles; two Peugeot 3008 and two Discovery 4’s.
Principal Dealer at Land Rover Pietermaritzburg, Justin Mangan says, “The Nine Peaks Challenge is a demanding journey that will see the team summit a high peak in each province within South Africa and what better way to do this than with South Africa’s favourite adventure SUV, Discovery 4! This challenge fits in with our brand essence, Motion in Emotion, we are providing motion in their emotion and we’re proud go above and beyond to raise assist Meals on Wheels to build this centre.
Wintec Solutions MD, Rene Winter says, “We are proud to be supporting such a noble cause. We strive to add value in the brands and producst we distribute, and in the same way, there’s no greater value than people performing marvellous feats to raise money and awareness for feeding the hungry”.
Wintec Solutions along with its partners, Runtastic and Power Traveller will be providing the team with portable and solar chargers as well as top of the range tracking and altitude monitoring watches.
Other sponsors include; Uproar Communications PTY Ltd, Adventure Dynamic, First Ascent, Konjac Sponges, Esse, SpaRitual, Positive Energy, Stat Medical, Shadow Photography, Painted Dog Productions, World Appearance Omnico, Ethekwini Banners and Signs, Dee Dee Construction, Blink Pictures, Do It Now Magazine, Sizani Foods and Kim Williams Advanced Paramedic.
To donate to the cause, the public are encouraged to sms the word 9peaks to 41804. Each sms is worth R20.00.
Members of the public are encouraged to follow the team and send well-wishes via Facebook on www.facebook.com/nine-peaks or on Twitter on @ninepeakssa and Instagram on Nine Peaks SA using the hashtags #adventureswithapurpose, #changinglives, #teamzodwa, #9peaks.
