Cycling duo Gus Dreyer, 59, and Mac Richardson, 57, are gearing up for their second annual charity ride, aiming to raise R1.5m to install a solar power system at the McClelland Adult Centre for the Intellectually Impaired.
The McClelland Cycle Tour, or McClelland 1000, was launched in 2024 as a fundraising initiative.
This year, the pair will ride 1,265km from East London to Cape Town, departing on February 22 from the Astron garage in Beacon Bay.
Rotary Club of Bonza Bay members will cycle alongside them to Stutterheim in support.
Their route includes Komani, Cradock, Graaff-Reinet, Aberdeen, Willowmore, Calitzdorp, Barrydale, Robertson and Franschhoek, and ends in Gordon’s Bay on March 6.
The McClelland Centre, a nonprofit residential facility in Amalinda, provides holistic care for 83 adults who need assistance with daily living.
This holistic care includes therapeutic and educational activities like singing, baking, carpentry, reading, sports and more.
Dreyer, the centre’s operations manager, emphasised the urgent need for solar power.
“Our monthly electricity bill is about R130,000,” he said.
“We’ve consulted various solar companies and the system will cost R1.5m to install.
“If we can achieve that we could cut our costs in half, if not more.”
McClelland receives 35% of its funding from subsidies, relying on fundraising to cover the remaining 65%.
Dreyer stressed that even if they did not reach the full amount, “every penny counts”.
So far, R75,000 has been pledged to the cause.
The 2024 ride raised R100,000, which went towards repainting the facility.
“We are still busy with this because we are doing the labour ourselves with our maintenance team who have done a sterling job transforming what was an unpleasant façade into something more professional,” Dreyer said.
Both men will be seconded by their wives, Rotary Ann members Iona Dreyer and Janine Richardson.
Richardson, a seasoned cyclist, said the ride was both a challenge and a passion.
“I’ve been training consistently since last year’s ride and have upped the tempo,” he said.
“I’m very excited and ready to go!”
Dreyer and Richardson came up with the idea over coffee, inspired by Richardson’s past charity rides.
“Gus and I have been cycling together for just more than two years,” Richardson said.
“We are both Rotarians and he was looking for a way to raise funds for McClelland and had heard about these extreme cycles I have done and thought it would be a good idea to do something different.”
Since taking over as McClelland’s operations manager in 2023, Dreyer has been deeply committed to the centre’s mission.
“I absolutely love it,” he said.
“The centre was started three years ago and is purely for intellectually impaired people.
“The term we use is kids as they are adults with the intellect of anything from 11 to 15 years old, though you look at an adult, they are essentially the intellect of those ages and we treat them accordingly.
“These kids are not going to be able to make it in the big wide world and what we offer them is a protected environment.”
Despite a lingering societal stigma about intellectual disabilities, Dreyer praised the involvement of many parents and guardians.
“Tomorrow night we are hosting a Valentine’s dance and several parents have volunteered to help. Seeing that participation is heartwarming.”
The duo’s determination is unwavering.
“At the end of the day, it’s all for our residents,” Dreyer said.
“The feeling of reaching the finish and going, ‘Wow we have actually achieved what we wanted to do’.
“Mentally and physically it’s very demanding, doing 100km a day out in the sun, climbing some monster hills, it’s that sense of achieving what we have set out to do.
“There is no personal goal other than making it to Gordon’s Bay.”
Daily Dispatch
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