Johannesburg City Parks and Zoo together with the Hollard Jozi Urban Mountain Bike Adventure (Juma) team have put in some serious work to ensure the Braamfontein Spruit is clean before the annual event.

Taking all the feedback from previous years, the Juma team and City Parks have taken steps to improve sections of the route that were a little less than fragrant.

“Our aim is to maximise the runners’ experience, and together with City Parks, we came up with using effective microbes [bokashi balls] as a water cleaning and odour busting solution to the problem. Now runners can enjoy everything the route has to offer and have fresh, clean fun along the way,” event organiser Mark Castel explained.

Ben Masalesa, senior training facilitator at City Parks hailed bokashi as an excellent water cleaning solution.

“The balls are created from a mixture that includes bran, wheat bran, molasses and a combination of various bacteria endemic to South Africa. The balls sink to the riverbed, where they slowly release effective microbes for up to a month, improving water quality as the good bacteria eats away the bad bacteria,” he said.

More than 1 000 of these balls were placed in waterways along the Killarney Golf Course, Wynberg, Emmarentia, Alberts Farm and Innesfree Park. Each ball can clean approximately 1 000 cubic metres of water over its lifespan. The microbes act to biologically consume odour-causing toxins and break down waste. They are 100 per cent eco-friendly.

Louise Gordon, general manager of new business development at City Parks said teams from Region E and Region B assisted in cleaning part of the route, collecting more than 150 bags of litter.

“The teams were also tasked with releasing the effective microbe-based bokashi balls as part of their Hollard Juma entry fee. It was a fantastic team-building exercise and we can’t wait to participate in the race this weekend,” she said.

“Huge improvements have come from the partnership with Hollard Juma. It’s a race that raises awareness of the environmental issues we face and encourages the use of the beautiful public parks we have in Johannesburg.”

Entries are still open. Entry fees are R249 excluding VAT for the 6km Fun Run, R299 excluding VAT for the 12km Adventure and R330 for the 18km Adventure excluding VAT.

Visit www.joziadventure.co.za for entries and more information.

Press release prepared by Kelly Fraser at Nomadic Social, [email protected]

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