A growing initiative since 2009
The Cableway Charity Challenge has been running since 2009 and is now in its 16th year. The event, started by Anton & Brigitte de Waal, to assist impoverished communities with educational assistance, has grown from strength to strength, becoming a unique Cape Town event not to be missed. In 2017, the JDI Foundation jumped at the opportunity to be involved with running the event alongside the de Waals. The event was initially run by volunteers who fall under the umbrella of the JDI initiative only. However, as of 2025, the event is run by Table Mountain Aerial Cableway who is ably assisted by volunteers who fall under the umbrella of the JDI initiative as well as the team from Wildrunner. You can be safe in the knowledge that whether you participate or sponsor, all your efforts are going towards a worthy cause.
Beginning as a 1-day race for athletes fit enough to do multiple laps in a day, the event morphed into a 9-day event as a result of COVID, where a wonderful community of walkers, hikers, trail runners and day trippers participate – all with the aim of challenging themselves for a good cause. In 2024, the event returned to the 1-day format of pre-COVID years.
The first year saw a field of 50 runners raise just over half a million rand. In 2024 the field comprised of 199 participants who collectively completed 716 laps and raised just over R1,27 million for our chosen beneficiaries.
Help us reach our 2025 target of R1 million by entering as a participant, a team or sharing our social media posts to boost our audience!
JDI Foundation
The event is run by JDI. JDI is a Public Benefit Organisation and is registered as the JDI Foundation Trust. JDI was started in 1998 with the idea to create a simple structure that would enable young people to use their centres of influence to learn, understand and then make a difference in other people's lives in South Africa. We wanted to show our friends how easy it was to make a significant impact, to teach them about the problems, the issues and the solutions available.
The JDI ethos shies away from the idea of making nameless donations to organisations where you can’t see how your money is spent, or from encouraging dependency by giving cash to individuals who are sometimes unable to spend it properly. Instead members are encouraged to ‘See. Think. Do’.
Our nominated beneficiaries for 2025
Funda Kunye: Empowering Early Childhood Development in Hout Bay
Funda Kunye is a small NPO based in Hout Bay, Cape Town. Our goal is to equip educators with the necessary Early Childhood Development (ECD) skills and resources to enable …
