Havinga qualifies for UWCT Final and raises funds for charity

Tinus Havinga

Tinus Havinga is not a professional cyclist by any means. In fact, he first became involved with UWCT in 2012 at the age of 60, as a complete amateur and with no ranking whatsoever. Instead, he is a partner at PSG Konsult, whom he commends for giving him the time off to pursue his passion for travelling and cycling. The race in Trento was not his first attempt to qualify for the UWCT final, but a last-ditch attempt to earn a place in the Pietermaritzburg race after he was unable to complete his original qualifying race here in South Africa. Devastated that he had missed his opportunity to compete in the final, Tinus and his wife Ann flew to Italy to try for a second chance at qualifying, which he duly managed to do, despite the Trento course being notoriously challenging.

Achievement in the face of adversity

Tinus' cycling endeavours in 2013 have been no less fraught with last-minute changes and sudden flight alterations. Overwhelmed by his experience of the professionalism and camaraderie of the 2012 UCI World Cycling Tour in Italy, he decided to try and qualify a second time for the final, this year scheduled to be held in Trento. Originally, he and his wife had planned to fly to Colombo in Sri Lanka for the first ever UWCT qualifying race to be held in Asia. In the end, however, the Sri Lankan event was cancelled just three days before they were scheduled to leave South Africa, due to religious violence in Colombo.

Faced with the prospect of being thwarted in his attempts to reach the final for the second time, Tinus struggled to find a way to achieve his goals in the face of adversity. He worked with Andrea Marcellini, the project co-ordinator for UCI in Switzerland, and George Leventakis, the race director for the qualifying round in Chania, to change his qualifying plans for Greece. His perseverance in pursuing his UWCT final dreams once again was undoubtedly paid off by the magnitude of the success that he went on to enjoy there.

Tinus dedicated his original UWCT race in 2012 to his terminally ill brother, who tragically died just four days after his victory at Trento. This year, he is racing for CycleSafe, a project of the organisation South Africans Against Drunk Driving (SADD). CycleSafe KZN was set up in 2012 by Bernie Pearce, Caro Smit and Cathy Doherty-Bigara under the umbrella of SADD with the aim of raising awareness about the safety of cyclists, motorcyclists and pedestrians. Pearce and Smit have intensely personal reasons for founding the initiative, having both lost loved ones to drunk drivers. Upon hearing about CycleSafe, Tinus decided to donate all the funds raised by his cycling endeavours to them, in an attempt to honour "the many cyclists who have died on South Africa's roads" and to raise the awareness to prevent more people being killed. His decision was particularly influenced by the death of South Africa's 2012 Olympic mountain biking contestant Barry Stander, who was hit by a car while training.

Supporting safe cycling

Determined to raise as many funds as possible, Tinus started writing to businesses and individuals before his 2013 qualifying event. He challenged them to "support safe cycling and a healthy South Africa" by donating to his cause, and asked them to commit to doubling their donation should he achieve his goal of reaching the September final. His goal is R50,000, a figure which he is well on his way to reaching, with a current total of around R38,000 raised.

Tinus credits Time Freight's support with inspiring him to succeed, saying "My goal was to qualify for the World Masters final in Trento and in doing so to raise money for a good cause. Time Freight has a slogan "we deliver" and as one of my major sponsors I could not let them down... I had to deliver, and I want to thank them for their on-going community involvement in general."

Time Freight's CEO, Etienne van Ravesteyn says of Tinus' endeavour, "We are proud to support Tinus in his quest to raise greater safety awareness for cyclists in general and we also congratulate him for his personal achievement in qualifying for UWCT final. Tinus's initiative gives credence to Time Freight's support policy that any sponsorship to an individual must add significant value to the broader community. Tinus's endeavours does that and more."

Tinus and Ann will fly to Italy for the UWCT final in September 2013. For anyone wishing to donate to his cause, an online mechanism has been created by means of a secure website to allow for donations by credit card or EFT. Click here to donate http://www.backabuddy.co.za/cycling-for-safer-roads or go to www.backabuddy.co.za and search for Tinus under Find a Friend. Otherwise, contact him directly at az.oc.gsp@agnivah.sunit.