On Saturday, 6 April 2019, Futuregrowth participated in the annual Cableway Charity Challenge
While many were admiring the wondrous mountain that towers above the City of Cape Town from afar – 11 courageous (or crazy?) employees put their bodies through the grueling test of climbing Table Mountain as many times as possible from sunrise to sunset.
Futuregrowth rose to the challenge - climbing Table Mountain a total of 47 times on the day. That’s an average of 4.27 climbs per person!
Each lap was 5.5km in distance with 760 metres of elevation, and required the entrants to climb up the beginning of the India Venster route; walk along the contour path to Platteklip Gorge; and then wind their way up the gorge to the top of the mountain. Once at the top, the entrants then needed to walk, run or limp across the table to catch a cable car ride down. Each lap took the Futuregrowth team members approximately 1.5 to 2 hours to complete. Thereafter, the runners would refuel down at the lower cable station before heading up again to try to complete as many laps as possible within the 11-hour window.
All of this was done to raise funds for worthy charitable causes, with the Futuregrowth team raising roughly R61 500. Funds are raised through sponsoring a runner per lap for a certain amount of laps. That way the sponsors can challenge the runners by sponsoring them for more laps than they were originally aiming to achieve. This makes a real difference when you’re contemplating going up for that last lap.
The 190 participants in the Challenge collectively raised just short of R1.1 million, completing just under 800 laps. This is the most money the Challenge has raised in the 11 years since the event started. The following charities will be receiving the pledged donations: CoolPlay, Paedspal and Ons Plek, and 10% will be given to Wilderness Search and Rescue volunteer rescue services.
Despite our strong effort and some individuals doing really well, neither of our two teams completed enough laps to place us in the top 3. This, unfortunately, also meant that we lost a wager with Seed Investments, with whom we had bet that our top five runners would outperform theirs. The stakes were twofold: an additional donation to a charity of the winners’ choice and, of course, bragging rights. Seed Investments ended up winning, with their top five completing 28 laps to the 25 laps completed by our top five. So Futuregrowth will be paying an additional R7 800 (in equal portions) to Seed’s chosen charities: Eagle’s Nest Ministries and Calling Education NPC.
Nevertheless, we applaud all the participants for their remarkable efforts and the commendable outcome achieved by the Futuregrowth team as a whole. Taking on a third, fourth, fifth or sixth lap up the mountain when you’re already battling against the aches and pains from the previous laps is no easy feat. Each participant should be proud of the physical and mental stamina that they demonstrated on the day!
We would also like to thank the sponsors and supporters on the day – your encouragement certainly made the mental challenge easier to overcome!
And to those who are contemplating flying the Futuregrowth flag at the Challenge next year, may these words be of encouragement to you: “Your body can stand almost anything. It’s your mind that you have to convince.” (Author unknown)
