LOUIS TRICHARDT - On Friday, April 12 students from Ridgeway College took to the streets by means of a colourful parade whereby they urged residents to stand up against crime.

The street parade with banners and donkeys made a strong statement that Ridgeway College was against crime. Mrs Leigh Bristow explained that the aim of the walk was to raise youth awareness against crime as well as to raise funds towards helping the owner of the minibus that was stolen last year while it was loaned to the College to take the Form 5 girls on a school trip to Johannesburg.

After the street parade the 18 teams of four students each continued their walk at the school premises in Leeu Street where they walked for 24 hours totalling 3 969.6km. The average distance per pupil was 50.2km. Mavhhuso Maravhu managed to walk 100.8km during the 24- hour period which won him first prize, with Rathugwa Ramuedzizi finishing closely behind Maravhu in second place.

Craig James and Hendrik Loots walked more than 80km each, while Hilary Brennan and Callie Mortimer stuck together to be the best girls with a distance of 70.4km. The winning team MR 2 for life covered a distance of 276km between the four of them.

The rain did not dampen the students' spirits and many parents accompanied their children at the end of the 24 hour period to encourage them to finish. Not one of the 18 teams dropped out before the end of the race.

"The team spirit was remarkable," commented Mrs Bristow.

"They finished at 18:00 on Saturday and we gave the students the day off on Monday."

Ridgeway College afterwards thanked the SAPS and the Traffic Department for their support. They also thanked Protea Furnishers, Coca-Cola SABCO and Spar for their sponsorships, while prizes were donated by Tuskers Restaurant, Tusk Hotel & Casino, Milky Lane, Wimpy, Realty 1 Elk, Lalapanzi Hotel, Limpopo Spares No Problem, Ultra Video, the Brennans, the Van Niekerks, Inn Gallery and Biscuit King. Food, drinks and equipment were received from or donated by the Rauchs, Thahors, Emmanuel Christian Church, Great North Distributors and Newco. They also thanked the parents with special mention to the Oliviers, Wrights, Terrinns, McCabes and Brennans, as well as the staff of Ridgeway College, their spouses and the students.