The 24th to the 26th of October 2014 saw the fourth Wild Series hosting of the Old Mutual Radox Golden Gate Challenge by Wildlands. This trail running event is hosted in partnership with South African National Parks (SANParks) at the Golden Gate Highlands National Park in the Free State and saw 190 runners experience three days of challenging, well organised trail running.
The event was conquered by Herman Mulder (7hrs 39 minutes) and Trish Bahlmann (8hrs and 42 minutes) in the men’s and ladies categories respectively. “I have had the most beautiful three days of my life in Golden Gate,” commented Trish Balhmann who was bursting with energy, even after running the gruelling race. Throughout the event, runners praised the professional manner in which the event was run and the amazing routes selected for them to traverse.
Dr Andrew Venter took the opportunity to also introduce Old Mutual as the new title sponsor for the Wild Series pointing out that this heralds a new era for the unit.
“Old Mutual is proud to be the new title sponsor of the Wildland’s Wild Series events,” said Karen Thomas, Marketing Executive at Old Mutual. “This new sponsorship has strong links with our business on many levels, community engagement being one of them as we believe in investing in partnerships that support a worthy cause – and the Wild Series is about giving back to conservation; it’s about protecting our heritage and securing its future. Endurance sports are also a key pillar of Old Mutual’s sponsorship portfolio,” said Thomas. “Through Wildlands we can serve the communities that we are all part of. Thank you to Wildlands for making Old Mutual part of this great change and to each and every one here for choosing to be part of this change.”
The funds raised from this event go towards supporting the Maluti Drakensburg Vulture project and management of the Golden Gate Highlands National Park. The focus of this support is primarily on Bearded Vulture conservation. This year the status of the Bearded Vulture has been raised to critical due to the rapid decline which is estimated at 1.4% each year. This monitoring is achieved through the small solar powered devices fitted on the birds estimated at R30 000, costing the project R1000 per month per bird, making this an expensive exercise.
Today, the Bearded Vulture only inhabits parts of KwaZulu-Natal, Free State, Eastern Cape and parts of Lesotho. Through the assistance of the satellite monitors it is known that out of the 190 nests in this area almost half have been abandoned. Breeding pairs are also on the decline which means that fewer of the birds are being bred. A further threat to the species is secondary poisoning, traditional medicine and proposed wind farms. Traditional medicine has only recently been discovered as a threat. Wind farms are estimated to having a massive impact of 3.7% decline, as the birds are known to feed and nest in the proposed wind farm areas.
It is therefore vital that events such as the Old Mutual Radox Golden Gate Challenge continue, in order to ensure the long-term survival of this icon of the Drakensberg Mountains.
Wildlands commends everyone who contributed towards the success of this event – Old Mutual, Radox Man X, all the Golden Gate Highland National Park staff, and the SANParks Honorary Rangers.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)