The Argus Tour, was meant to be a protest ride to ‘encourage’ the city council to think about bicycles as part of its urban planning, and look after cyclists on the (by 1978 standards) busy roads. As such, the event failed spectacularly for decades, but what a wonderful deviation from those goals it has become.

South Africa hosts some of the largest, by number of entrants, sporting events in the world with three being the largest of their type. The Cape Town Cycle Tour, with as many as 35 000 cyclists taking part, is the world's largest individually timed cycle race. 

The other two are the world's largest ultra-marathon running event, the Comrades Marathon, and the world's largest open water swim, the Midmar Mile.