WINDHOEK – With the support of leading local retail chain Pick n Pay Namibia, entrants for the cycling races and runs of Cycle Classic as well as Kiddies Classic are to receive a reusable goody bag, as opposed to the past where participants only received plastic-type goody bags.

 Anita Witt of the Recycle Namibia Forum (RNF) could not hide her delight when the bags were handed over by Victoria Moller, marketing manager of Pick n Pay earlier this week, to Rotary Club Windhoek’s president Ian Gallagher.
“It underscores our work in promoting the reuse of items as an environmental conservation strategy,” says Witt.
 RNF was founded in 2008 by a number of organizations that saw the need for an umbrella body to promote, create awareness and advance initiatives aimed at achieving the 3 Rs – reducing, reusing and recycling.

 The organization’s membership comprises service providers and entrepreneurs operating in diverse sectors of the economy, including manufacturing, waste collection, renewable energy and glass crushing.

Pick n Pay’s Moller points out that the supermarket chain has supported RNF for many years now. An example, says Moller, is that over the past three years one Namibian dollar against the sale of each reusable shopping bag is donated to RNF, with close on N$70, 000 generated so far.

 The two-day Cycle Classic gets underway in the capital this weekend on 13 and 14 October, starting with the mountain bike race in three distance categories on Saturday morning, to be tailed by the Kiddies Classic, a fun cycling race for the little ones, in the afternoon.

With runs first introduced last year to broaden the appeal of Cycle Classic, this year a 10 km relay race in four stages of 2.5 km has been added to the 10 km run and 5 km run-walk. The Classic Run also takes place on Saturday morning.

 A community service and fundraising initiative of Rotary Club Windhoek, Cycle Classic launched in 1999 and has taken place annually since then, with numerous charities, needy causes and individuals benefiting every year from the money generated.