The annual Cableway Charity Challenge kicks off this coming weekend. The nine-day long event will see professional athletes and amateur enthusiasts attempt to hike to the top of Table Mountain as many times as they can.

The Challenge is organised by The JDI Foundation, with the support of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company. Athletes have from sunrise to sunset each day to hike up to the top of Platteklip Gorge before taking the cable car back down, to start the ascent again.

A special Race Day forms part of the Challenge week, when corporate and school teams take part in tackling the gorge.

“This is the 14^th edition of the Cableway Challenge. The first event in 2009 had 50 runners help raise around half a million rand. The Challenge grew in leaps and bounds and last year we had 135 participants help us raise just over a million rand,” says Tracy le Roux, spokesperson for the event organiser The JDI Foundation.

This year’s Challenge will raise funds for:

• Abalimi Bezekhaya (meaning farmers of the home in isiXhosa) is a non-profit urban-farming organization, established in 1982, that supports individuals and groups from disadvantaged communities in Cape Town through providing facilitation and training on organic food production for nutrition, health, food security and income generation.
• Funda Kunye aims to promote the holistic development and education of vulnerable, young babies and children in the Imizamo Yethu and Hangberg areas of Hout Bay.
• Mother City Kitchen supports non-profit organisations in specific impoverished community groups throughout Cape Town, by donating mass produced nutritious soup and other meals.

“We are proud to be a part of this incredible event again at our beautiful New 7 Wonders of Nature site. What excites me most about this event is seeing the mix of super-fit professional athletes rub shoulders with ordinary fans of the mountain as they all work towards a common goal. Every ascent and every rand raised, makes a difference”, says Wahida Parker, Managing Director of the Table Mountain Aerial Cableway Company.

Follow #cablewaycharitychallenge on social media channels for regular updates.