Yesterday the sports equipment bound for handing out on the Sport Heroes Walk arrived at the SRSA offices, and today staff are hard at work checking it, and packing it into batches for dispatching to the various stopover points on the eighteen-stop route.

Packing up... Somkhele, one of the interns that'll be in the SRSA support team traveling with the Sport Heroes.

Each stop will receive about 150 pieces of sports equipment ranging from athletics stopwatches, relay batons, netball, football, cricket and softball balls, bats, and much more. The equipment hampers will be donated to needy clubs, and some of it will also be used by the Heroes when they hold sports clinics. The value of the equipment is in excess of R700 000, and is the result of a long process of consultation with municipalities and other stakeholders to establish the most important, common needs in their areas.

In addition, each stop is in for a soccer surprise… what this space!

The growth of the Sport Heroes Walk in stature was evident last night during the event’s fund raising launch evening. And what an A-list event of sport names it was!. It’s rare that you’ll see so many of the who’s who of South Africa’s sport gathered in one room, which is a huge credit to the Walk organisers, and the event itself.

You name them, they were there…. Ali Bacher, Bruce Fordyce, Baby Jake Matlala, Fanie de Villiers, Danny Jordaan, and the star of the evening, Sir Ian Botham, who’d come over from England to attend. Another special guest was Judge Edwin Cameron, who delivered an inspiring and heart-felt message about the stigma of AIDS.

Representing government was the Director General of Sport and Recreation South Africa, Mr Vernie Peterson, and while he couldn’t be there physically, a video message of support from Deputy President Kgalema Motlanthe was shown. His words left no doubt about government’s hands-on and positive approach to the eradication of HIV/AIDS.

The highlight of the evening without doubt was a video screening showing how care centres that have benefited from the Heroes Walk in previous years have used the money to buy vehicles, furniture, and other materials.

The event, attended by about 200 guests and shown live on SuperSport, was held at the grand Summer Place Convention Centre.

The only pity was that the sport heroes themselves, who will be tackling the 1 700km route on Saturday morning, were mostly absent. Only four of them were present, mainly due to the fact that the rest haven’t arrive from Cape Town (does that mean Cape Town has more sport heroes than Gauteng?)

So now it’s all systems go for Saturday’s activities at Diepsloot, and the first walk from Diepsloot to Tshwane on Sunday.

The countdown is on for this year’s Heroes Walk! Right now the Sport Heroes and the Walk support team are feverishly preparing for the start of  their eighteen day, 1700km journey through Limpopo. The Walk launch – a fund raising event – will take place on 11 November in Sandton. In addition to the Heroes, the event will be attended by a number of sport stars that include Dr Ali Bacher and Naas Botha. The proceedings will include the screening of a report-back video screening to show how the Walk has benefited communities, and in particular AIDS centres, on previous Walks in other provinces. Equipment worth hundreds of thousands of Rands have been funded by the Walk during the eight yearts that the project has been running. Best of all, the launch will be covered on SuperSport live, so tune in and watch!

During the last few days before starting off everyone will be packing, organising Malaria medication, buying sunscreen lotion, and checking cell phone chargers. The first stopover – a ‘home’ one – will be at Diepsloot on November 14th, while the first stopover within Limpopo province will be at Bela Bela – place of hot water – two days later.

Judging from experience on previous Walks, the almost three weeks on the Walk will be filled with heartwarming – and heart-rendering scenes as the Heroes meet local communities, share their sport skills with children, and meet the personnel and patients at AIDS clinics. We’ll be sharing those experiences here both in words and images, so make a visit to the Sport Heroes Walk website a part of your daily Internet fix!