Date 21. 01. 2010 (2376) |

The 2010 UCI BMX World Championships will be held from 29 July - 1 August in Pietermaritzburg, the second largest city in the KwaZulu-Natal Province, and its administrative capital. Newsletter Number 4 Dear all It’s 2010 and a huge year lies ahead!! Not only is South Africa playing host to the 2010 FIFA Soccer World Cup, but more importantly as far as we are concerned, the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships is coming to town in July. We would like to take this opportunity to wish all of you and yours all the very best for the year ahead, and let’s hope that your experiences in South Africa this year will only add to a great year ahead for you. As indicated in our last newsletter, the official event website is up and running and the address is www.bmxworldchampspmb.co.za so go and check it out! Hopefully the website will be able to provide you with all the general information that you require in the lead up to the event, but if you feel there are elements that you would like to know more about or things that need expanding, please let us know and we’ll do our best to sort this out. If you know of anyone who would like to be included on the newsletter distribution list, please have them contact Liz at liz@realem.co.za so their details can be included. The more we can get the word and the event information out there, the better it is for all. We really want to know who is going to be taking part this year and we want the larger BMX community out there to know too so please remember to send through your bios to Liz (liz@realem.co.za) for updating to the website. All the very best Alec Lenferna Event Director Organising Committee The leadership of the Organising Committee for the 2010 UCI BMX World Championships was further boosted and reinforced by the confirmation of Mr. Rob Haswell as the President of this Committee. Haswell is the City Manager for the City of Pietermaritzburg and has been involved in many of the major activities that have taken place in the city over the years and his confirmation in this position adds a huge amount of experience and wise guidance to the organisational structures. All of the main portfolio heads on the committee have now been finalized and the people filling the three top jobs bring with them political, business, city wide and eventing experience by the bucket load in the form of Mayor Zanele Hlatshwayo who is the Honorary President of the Organising Committee, Rob Haswell in his position of President of the committee and Alec Lenferna who is the Event Director. Where to Stay As mentioned in the previous newsletters, please contact ECCO Tours for all your accommodation requirements. Please remember that we are in the New Year and the bookings are heating up! They have an extensive list of registered and accredited accommodation venue and although all visitors are obviously at liberty to source their own accommodation for the event, the organizers cannot obviously be held responsible for any situations that may arise at non registered or pre selected venues. They have a range of pre-selected options to suit your needs, and will be able to advise you with local knowledge. They will also be able to assist you with car hire and transport options should this be required. Their contact details are: http://bmx.eccosports.biz. E-mail: bmx@eccotours.biz Tel: (+27) 21 683 0069 Fax: (+27) 86 683 2097 The Venue For more information on the competition venue, please visit www.bmxworldchampspmb.co.za and follow the venue links. Bike Storage There have been a number of people and federations that have made enquiries about bike transport and storage during the competition. We are in the process of finalizing different options for the bikes to be stored on site at the venue, and will keep you posted on this via the website, and the next newsletter. Expo An extensive sales and information expo will be in place at the event and this will be handled by Cool Hand Trading. For any enquiries about this expo and / or how to secure a site, please contact Murray at Cool Hand Trading, his email address being info@coolhandtrading.co.za. Sponsor Sites One of the unique characteristics of the competition venue is that there are a number of buildings throughout the grounds. Some of these in the appropriate areas will be utilized by the larger competing teams etc, and some of these buildings of different sizes are situated adjacent to the competition area. Some of these houses will be made available to team or rider sponsors for the duration of the competition. There will be limited options available and if you are interested in taking up one of these options, please let us know what requirements you have, and we will let you know the options and the related costs. Please remember that the sponsor sites are meant for a VIP, sponsor hosting area, and should you wish to sell, or have the public interact with your product, you would need to book an expo site. Please contact Liz at liz@realem.co.za in this regard. Official Event Merchandise A wide range of event merchandise will be available for purchase through the event website from the New Year as well as on site during the event. The range is being put together by Faith Wear Clothing and the range will be launched for public viewing in February 2010. Ticketing Entry tickets will be on sale from the end of February. We will be offering guaranteed stand seating in response to requests that were made following previous events – these guaranteed seating options will be limited. You will also be able to purchase tickets for the duration of the event or for a single day pass via the website. Contact us Alec Lenferna – Event Director alec@realem.co.za Liz Lenferna – Event Admin liz@realem.co.za Interesting South African Facts  South Africa generates two-thirds of Africa’s electricity  South African power supplier provides the fourth cheapest electricity in the world  Chris Hani-Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto is the biggest hospital in the world  Durban is the largest port in Africa and the ninth largest in the world.  There are 39 million cell phone users in South Africa (International Telecommunication Union) Until next time…….