CHARITY CHALLENGE 2009

The came, they saw, they conquered, as described by Weekend Argus, of the 57 intrepid athletes who took on the stenuous challenge of climbing Table Mountain as part of the Charity Challenge held on 18th April 2009.

Organisers Anton de Waal and Adam Pike, who pioneered this event, described it as 'working out perfectly', driving a campaign where over R500 000 in sponsorships was raised by the participants themselves for the benefit of orphan and vulnerable children, including those of the Masikhulisane Creche and the future development of a Children's Centre with an educare focus in Samora Machel, Philippi. Participants raised their sponsorship from friends, work colleagues and family starting from R100 per donation to as much as R10 000 received from Educompass Children's Charity Trust based in Australia.

While many summited Platteklip Gorge 3 or more times, Georg Shoenbaechler -after being told that making 8 ascents in the day would be 'impossible' -completed it 10 times well within the cut off! This amounted to 55kms, 21km being steps equating to 7600 metres - collectively higher than Kilimanjaro!

Many volunteers and organisations stepped up to make it a successful event, with special credit to  the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway who offered free passes to the contestants to catch a lift down on each lap before running back to the start of the climb at Platteklip Gorge. Other corporate sponsors included Montrail, First Ascent, Buff, Mule Bar and Fusion Design.