South Africa’s farming community will showcase its cycling talent in France when Tonia Cason – a 51-year-old farmer’s wife, mother of two boys and primary school teacher from Mpumalanga – participates in the 16th Paris-Brest-Paris Randonneur event from 20 to 24 August 2007.
The event is held every four years and participants are required to cycle 1 200km – roughly one-third of the total distance of the Tour de – in a time of 90 hours, which is approximately the same as cycling from the outskirts of Johannesburg to Cape Town in under four days.
While Tonia describes herself as an “ordinary woman” the Paris-Brest-Paris challenge is no ordinary cycling race. he event has no outright winner, no large prize money and no support vehicles on the route. It is considered by South African randonneurs (or self-paced cyclists) as the Comrades Marathon of cycling because it is the ultimate test of cycling agility and human endurance. “While the distance of the race is daunting, the real test is a mental one,” says Tonia. “As a randonneur you have to overcome pain and severe sleep exhaustion – and never quit!
You have to beat more than the clock.” onia qualified for participation in this year’s Paris-Brest-Paris event after completing a series of local 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km races in accordance with the rules of event organisers Audax Club Parisien. “When I qualified for the Paris challenge, realised had achieved something very few South African women have done. This is when decided that simply had to raise the funds needed to compete, to show there is life after 50.” onia currently lives on a dairy farm, 12km from the small agricultural village of Greylingstad in Mpumalanga. She teaches English and Afrikaans to Grades 4 to 7 at the local government primary school. – Veronica Bradford
