Representatives of all participating sporting codes, municipal Councillors, the local organising committee and the honoured guests welcomed the Western Cape Minister of Cultural Affairs and Sport, Anroux Marais in Mossel Bay.
Minister Marais expressed the vision of making the Western Cape the sporting mecca in South Africa and said the Mossel Bay Sports Festival is an excellent vehicle to promote tourism to the area and to stimulate the local economy. She commended the Mossel Bay Municipality for the socially inclusive manner in which the Sports Festival is organised.
Although the PetroSA Marathon took place last weekend, the 2015 Mossel Bay Sports Festival will in all earnest begin this weekend with participants of 38 different sporting codes competing – ranging from athletics, boxing bowls, cricket, mountain bike cycling, soccer, tennis and sailing to sport for the disabled and the elderly, lifesaving, dominoes, darts, chess and bridge.
The programme also includes a motorsport gymkhana, a yacht race from Simon’s Town to Mossel Bay, the 17th annual Point High School KFC cricket festival for under 19’s and the SA Rugby Legends Iqhawe rugby tournament for under 15’s.
The Point High KFC cricket festival is already the biggest schools cricket tournament in South Africa and schools from all over South Africa as well as one from Namibia have entered. The matches will be played from 1 October 2015 to 6 October 2015 on seventeen fields in Mossel Bay, Great Brak River, George, Oudtshoorn and Riversdale.
Teams from fourteen provincial rugby unions will participate in the Iqhawe rugby tournament, which is being organised by the SA Rugby Legends Association in conjunction with the SWD Rugby Union and the South African Rugby Union as a development programme for players from schools or communities which have traditionally been excluded from grassroots competition structures. It will be played on 5, 6 and 8 October.
A two-day mountain bike event on 3 and 4 October, the Eight Bells Mountain Bike Race, has been added to the programme.
The Riding Road Mountains downhill skateboarding championships in Dana Bay on 3 and 4 October serves as the 2015 South African championships in all age groups.
The annual Garden Route Casino Community touch rugby tournament will this year take place on Friday, 2 October at the ATKV amphitheatre in Hartenbos. The tournament will coincide with the ATKV’s outdoor festival where several top South African singers will perform.
Two fun events, the annual Moss March, and a doggy fun walk take place on Saturday, 3 October. The Moss March, over 5 km, will start at Milkwood Primary School at 08:00. The doggy fun walk will take place at Santos Beach and start at 13:00.
The programme will be handed out at the various venues but can also be viewed on http://www.mosselbayevents.co.za.
ARTICLE AND PHOTOS: NICKEY LE ROUX, MOSSEL BAY ADVERTISER JOURNALIST
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