Bestmed Announces Sponsorship of Cycle4Cansa and Tshwane Classic
South Africa’s biggest self-administered medical scheme, Bestmed, with close to 100 000 principal members, has announced an agreement with Hectic Promotions for the headline sponsorship of the Bestmed Tshwane Classic cycle race, which takes place on 3 November 2019 at the Voortrekker Monument in Pretoria.
Bestmed also announced that it has renewed its partnership with the Bestmed Cycle4CANSA Championship for a seventh year running, which is a fitting partnership and an extension of its brand promise, Personally Yours.
The Bestmed Cycle4CANSA, presented by the Optimum Group over the weekend of 24 and 25 August this year, also falls in the care of Hectic Promotions, a non-profit organisation that manages various community-based projects in collaboration with the Tshwane Metro, CANSA and CHOC.
“The Bestmed Cycle4CANSA remains a cornerstone event for us and we are privileged to be able to continue supporting the cause of fighting cancer and creating cancer awareness,” said Madelein Barkhuizen, marketing executive at Bestmed.
“The Bestmed Tshwane Classic is clearly the fastest growing property in cycling at the moment and we would like to assist the event in establishing itself alongside the other big city classics,” she said.
“We believe the way in which the event has fast-tracked itself shows that it has a good chance to take up a position alongside the Cape Town Cycle Tour and 947 Cycle Challenge as South Africa’s signature mass participation cycling events.”
“With a participant total of 7000 cyclists, it’s already among the biggest mass participation sporting events in the country. It’s only in its third year of presentation,” she said.
The Bestmed Tshwane Classic, which is presented in association with the City of Tshwane, Jacaranda FM and Office National, was staged for the first time in 2017 and attracted just over 5000 participants.
“It was clear from the outset that the event had struck a chord with Pretoria’s residents and cyclists who had waited long enough to have their own mass participation cycling event,” said Hectic Promotions director Mauritz Meyer.
“We are unbelievably fortunate to have incredible logistical support from the city and large scale buy-in from a host of stakeholders and sponsors.”
“We are passionately committed to the organisation of the race and we will work tirelessly to ensure that we enhance cyclists’ experience every year.
“We are by no means perfect yet. We have learnt a lot about the challenges in the inner-city with traffic control, but we will ensure it gets better every year. The improvement was very evident from 2017 to 2018 and this year will be even better as we reroute past Loftus Versfeld.
“With the city’s disaster management and more than 380 committed metro police officers as well as 280 marshals to assist us, we are confident that we will create a traffic free environment.”
Meyer says his relationship with Bestmed started 17 years ago when they agreed to sponsor the Bestmed Campus2Campus SuperClassic, which fell under his organisational guidance as public relations officer of Northwest University.
“It was Bestmed’s first sponsorship in cycling back then and it’s wonderful that, seventeen years on, its relationship with the sport and our company continues.
Barkhuizen says the sponsorship underlines the Bestmed ideal of motivating individuals to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle. “The Bestmed Tshwane Classic is a race for everyone. It offers distances to suit all types of cyclists, from professionals and serious amateurs to residents who simply want to celebrate Pretoria’s cycling day.
“Cyclists can take part in either the feature 95km event or choose between distances of 60km and 20km. Kids can also get in on the act in the very popular kiddies rides at the Voortrekker Monument.”
According to Meyer, Pretoria residents have embraced the race. “We had almost no push-back from residents on closures last year and it was amazing to see how many residents simply pulled up a few chairs and lit the braai next to the road.
“We want to vest the first Sunday in November as Bestmed Tshwane Classic day, and three years on we are irrevocably set on this path.
“We can’t thank residents enough. It has been amazing to see the support for the event and how proud Pretoria residents are to have a mass participation cycling race of their own.”
For more information go to www.tshwaneclassic.co.za
Follow the race on Facebook @tshwaneclassic (https://www.facebook.com/tshwaneclassic/)
