Several athletes achieved the near-impossible on Sunday 13 March when they completed an audacious triathlon in the Mother City.
In July 2021, 31-year-old Stephan May from Stellenbosch, developed the exceptional vision of combining three of Cape Town’s most gruelling challenges into one extreme event. This extraordinary endeavour would involve swimming 8 km from Robben Island to Bloubergstrand, completing the Cape Town Cycle Tour of 109 km directly afterwards and then tackling the Three Peaks Challenge, a 50 km trail run with a combined elevation of 3 kilometres.
The aim of completing these challenges in fewer than 24 hours seemed like a superhuman feat, but was achieved by the daring athletes who started swimming at 05:30 on Sunday, with the last runner coming in at 02:30 on Monday.
Though hampered by choppy waters, rain, wind and mist, the athletes’ attitude was marked by astonishing perseverance and joy.
Severe weather warnings for Table Mountain forced safety officials to make last-minute adjustments to the last leg, with the athletes summiting Devil’s Peak, Platteklip Gorge and Lion’s Head with a total distance of 42 km and 2,7 km elevation. Henry Muller, Warren Langridge, Raoul Hamman and Bruwer Engelbrecht managed to complete all three legs in under 24 hours. Fourteen athletes were part of the challenge of which seven partook in all three legs.
Dubbed Calling Cape Town, this remarkable initiative aims to raise funds for Calling Education, the organisation running Calling Academy in Stellenbosch and Calling Academy in Kroonstad.
These independent low-fee schools charge a mere R550 per month and bring top-quality education within the grasp of low-income families. Founded in 2018, Calling Academy in Stellenbosch educates 300 high school learners, with its first group of matriculants set to complete their school careers this year.
