Vodacom Tour De Soweto
The event was held in the township of Soweto, with the background of the race being that the route was on the same roads that the Soweto Township residents protested on back in June 1976.

Secure parking was offered at Soweto’s newly built mall (PRIMI BAZALLA MAPONYA MALL) with the start located 2km from there on a stretch of open field.
The 40km race route included historical landmarks such as Orlando stadium, Soccer City Stadium and Orlando West (recent home of Winnie Mandela, Nelson Mandela and Desmond Tutu). There was a unique vibe with hawkers, the occasional shebeen and live entertainment such as Zulu dancing along the route.

The woman and Veteran 50+ men started together in the 80km race, consisting of two laps of the route. Only 4 Veteran men participated, giving us the opportunity to generally ride our own race.

As we left the start Lylanie Lawrence (MTN) launched the first attack. None of the other teams made an effort to respond and eventually Arien Torsius (Team Delila), Roben de Groot (Nashua) and I took turns in attacking trying to close the gap.
This led to some aggressive racing and eventually Marissa van den Merwe, Carla Swart, Cashandra Slingerland, Lylanie Lawrence (all MTN) and I (Konica Minolta) got away. MTN tried to force the pace, but couldn’t get all the team members to contribute equally and this led to the chasing bunch catching up again.

As we started our second lap, Marissa attacked on one of the climbs. Nobody responded immediately. I waited a view seconds and then followed. On reaching her, I looked back and saw that we got a good gap. The two of us worked hard together taking turns to pace in front. We managed to extend our gap on the rest of the field. I enjoy riding with Marissa as she doesn’t mind sharing work equally and always gives her best.

Back in the group, Johan Spies (Cycle lab) attacked and Roben de Groot (Nashua) was the only one to respond. The two of them rode across to Marissa and me, catching us with only 3km to go to the finish line.

Marissa won the sprint, with Roben in 2nd and I finished in 3rd position.
I enjoyed the winding route with all its exciting turns, climbs and descents. This made the racing hard and interesting. During the event one also had to be careful and watch out for vehicles, dogs, people etc in the road. One thing that caught my attention in all the confusion was how clean the township was. Even in the mall one couldn’t find a paper lying around. Tour de Soweto truly gives you an opportunity to experience the South African Townships vibe!!


Race Results:
1st Marissa van den Merwe (Team MTN) 2:09:25
2nd Roben de Groot (Team Nashua) “
3rd Yolandi du Toit (Konica Minolta) “
4th Cherise Taylor (Team MTN) 2:09:37
5th Altie Pienaar (Team Nashua)
6th Arien Torsius (Team Delila)
7th Cashandra Slingerland (Team MTN)



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