Archive of BMW Motorrad Club Cape (2006 - 2019)

I am continuously totally amazed at the staggering amount of moving parts an outdoor sports event has.
Almost every moving part is not a part of any other, yet,        and yet… they all mesh & the wheels turn in an amazingly coordinated manor to create an epic, safe event that pulls larger participants the next year, and the next.

Outdoor sports events in South Africa are plentiful over almost all weekends and the running or cycling enthusiast is spoilt not just for choice, but for amazing venues, diverse terroir and environment. The South African good-weather-days and abundant sunshine ensure any event organiser, participant and supporter a very good day.

We have excellent compliance processes in our “SAFETY AT SPORTS AND RECREATIONAL EVENTS ACT OF 2010”, which prescribes that every supplier of a service (moving part) in an event is compliant, accredited and operates safely.

In the Western Cape of South Africa, we are privileged to have a vibrant, active group of City officials who provide oversight and vet any application for an event and scrutinise the planning down to the minutest detail, from many months before each event, right up to 2 minutes before the event commences.

The event organiser, and a few suppliers may well be a commercial enterprise, making good profit from the event, but 70% of the other moving parts are mainly volunteer-based who either just cover cost, or are donating their time. Or using the event revenue they get to raise funds for a worthy cause.

I feel a tremendous warmth to be counted amongst their number, and I stand and serve amongst giants.

Back in 2007, I was roped into being a moto-marshal in a major outdoor sporting event in Cape Town South Africa.
My brief- “Can you entice five bike buddies to help you- just keep the competitors safe, and assist our static marshals on 8 sectors”.
With that international event, 35 000 competitors, I started my activities as a moto-marshal.
From there, word-of-mouth saw more ‘invitations’ to be moto-marshals on events.
Apparently, the fact that we did not terrify competitors and supporters alike by revving beyond the rev -limiter to gain attention, and the fact that we did not do burn-outs or displays of testosterone, made us stand out from the herd.

By 2009 I had trawled the internet, consulted widely for material and eventually drew up my own Mounted Event Moto Marshal training course, endorsed by major sporting event companies.

This remains a work-in-progress because we never stop learning, innovating, learning to use new technologies, and growing together with peer organisations.

We now have trained over 120 moto-marshals of which 85 remain on the active list.

We work with HEMS helicopters, ensuring the emergency landing zone is safe to operate from.

We can place people specially trained to operate in the Venue Operation Centre (VOC) and the Joint Operations Centre (JOC).

Our moto-marshals operate with tracking units, two-way radios, mobile apps and new technologies and we are all in instant communication with each other  from one week prior to 2 days after the event.
Our post-event debriefs always teach us many new things.

We work easily in a cooperative spirit with other moto-marshal groups on an event.
Yet all of this is just one tiny weeny part of a huge machine, and we are always awed by the tremendous commitment and passion of our peers in all the other moving parts.

Our selected event team emerges from a pre-event briefing, feeling very humbled by being able to work amongst such commitment and professionalism.

They make us so PROUDLY SOUTH AFRICAN. And if the pay is not so great, the appreciation we get from the participants on the course more than compensates like nothing else can.