In celebration of the turn of the millennium in 1999, Graeme Fraser set out a unique endurance challenge that required interested participants to complete five gruelling competitions in one year, namely the Dusi Canoe Marathon, Midmar Mile, Cape Town Cycle Tour, Comrades and conquering Mount Kilimanjaro, all under the “Nashua Millennium Big 5 Challengers” banner.
At the end of 2000, Fraser and 34 other participants had successfully completed all five challenges.
Now, 23 years later, Fraser and his wife, Veldra, plan to revive the challenge as the Millennium Big 5 Challenge 2025, ahead of its 25th anniversary.
Speaking at the launch of the Millennium Big 5 Challenge 2025, at Andante Country Wedding and Events Venue in Gqeberha on September 14, Fraser said that the Dusi Canoe Marathon, Midmar Mile, Cape Town Cycle Tour, Comrades, and Mount Kilimanjaro have, in the interim, retained their places in the South African sports calendar as “major” events and still constitute a true test of ability in each sports discipline.
“The challenge truly tests the endurance of the participants and takes them out of their comfort zone,” he said.
Fraser said that he had never been an elite athlete; instead the only sport he played were league cricket and hockey.“The first time we set out to do the challenge, people thought it was a joke, but now they know if ordinary Joes can do it, so can they,” said Fraser. He said that he and Veldra are excited about the prospect of introducing the adventures experienced by him and the original “challengers” of 2000, to an entirely new generation of athletes in 2025.
“We are hoping that many more participants will complete the Millennium Big 5 Challenge 2025,” said Fraser.
To share more about his experience during the initial challenge in 2000, he launched his book, titled Summit Vision at the same event.
To help the participants recoup their expenses for the challenge registration and each event, equipment, travel expenses, and any other expenses that might accumulate as part of the challenge, Fraser said that a Charity Trust is being created which will, in addition, use the money raised by the “challengers” for the trust to support the Priory for South Africa of the Order of St John, and other charitable causes.
Tony Deering, one of the successful challengers from 2000 who now resides in the United States, said that he was never a professional athlete but when he learned about the unique endurance challenge that Fraser had created and was co-ordinating, he accepted a friend’s challenge to complete the entire challenge, and did.
Deering said,
Deering hopes to join the “challengers” during the final leg of the Millennium Big 5 Challenge 2025, when they climb Mount Kilimanjaro in September 2025.
For more information about the Millennium Big 5 Challenge 2025, email Graeme Fraser and Veldra Fraser at legaleagles@srvalley.co.za.
