At exactly eight o’clock this morning, the Sport Heroes, and a whole crowd of supporters, started walking the 2009 Sport Heroes walk Against HIV/AIDS from the Diepkloof Mall outside Johannesburg. Their ultimately goal – the town of Thohoyandou in Vendaland.

The ‘workhorses’ of the Walk – the strongest runners of the Sport Heroes – shot ahead quite quickly. Boston Marathon winner Willie Mtolo and Kilimanjaro climber Evelina Tshabalala both vowed to complete 25km on the day, which means that 50km of the route will be behind the Sport Heroes team. (The Heroes walk and run in relay, each taking over from another, depending on their ability).

The rest of the Heroes as well as their supporters, led by Johannesburg Metro Police vehicles, tackled a 15km distance, from where the team would carry on alone.

Among the supporters were a large team from Nike, who is a major sponsor of the event.

Some members from Mamelodi Sundowns also joined in. ‘I’m definitely joining in next year,’ said one of them, looking decidedly disappointed that he couldn’t join the Heroes to do the full Walk.

The Heroes’ second activity stop is a school in Winterveld, and tomorrow the proceed to the first stop in Limpopo province – Bela-Bela.

The scene: A football field in Diepsloot, a settlement in northern Johannesburg. The event: The first stop on the Sport Heroes Walk, and a few hundred people, mainly children, are gathered to have fun, and learn a few sports tricks from the likes of Veronica Phewa, one of South Africa’s first class female football players.

Brand new soccer balls!

Suddenly the doors of a silver Volkswagen van opens, and brand new soccer balls start rolling out the doors. There’s about thirty seconds of silence and stares, and then dozens of children storm the van. This is the first of the consignment of soccer balls that SRSA will be handing out at each stopover to kids and other participants int he Sport Heroes’ coaching clinics! Adult marshals have their hands full controlling the children, loosly assigning smaller kids first in line to receive their complimentary soccer balls from the SRSA support team on hand. One hundred balls are handed out, which means that about all kids under the age of six or so are moments later dribbling a ball around the soccer field.

I walk around speaking to some of the Heroes. Pointing to the blazing early afternoon sun, they’re all speculating what the heat will be like once they reach the likes of Musina and Phalaborwa. ‘We’re in for a hot trip’, is the standard answer.

I catch up with Cynthia who is watching the hullabaloo on the soccer field. I’m rearing to get going, to hit the road in Limpopo’, she says. Communities out there are waiting for us’. Indeed.

She confirms that the first run of the 2009 Sport Heroes Walk will start tomorrow (Sunday, 15th) right here in Diepsloot, and ending in Winterveld north of Pretoria, where the next stopover will be. On Monday it’s on to Bela-Bela, the first stop in Limpopo proper.

The show’s on the road!

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!