Mon Sep 10 07:09:00 UTC 2007
The 2007 Shoprite Checkers Championship Boerewors Competition is entering its crucial provincial stage this month. It is yet another tough hurdle for the competition’s 84 regional winners, before they can even dare setting their sights on the long journey to Sun City next month, for a final assault on this year’s famous boerewors crown! The country’s many loyal boerewors lovers can meanwhile start preparing for yet another taste sensation, because the winning recipe will hit the shelves of Shoprite, Checkers and Checkers Hyper stores country wide, on 17 October.
The annual boerewors braai-competition is still growing in popularity, and entries have increased to almost a thousand competitors this year…up ten percent on last year. Most entrants were from Gauteng.
This year, all ten provincial rounds are taking place on 15 September, with the finals taking place at the Valley of Waves at Sun City on 6 October. Gauteng, with twenty regional rounds under its belt, will this year play host to two provincial rounds, one at Edenvale and one in Sophia Town. Regional winners in KZN will travel to Durban, Free State winners to Bloemfontein, Northern Cape winners to Kimberley, while Stellenbosch is preparing for an influx of Western Cape regional winners and their supporters. Eastern Cape regional winners will meet in Port Elizabeth, North West winners at Potchefstroom, Mpumalanga winners in Nelspruit, while all roads in Limpopo will lead to Polokwane, for their provincial clash in September.
The programme for the September provincial rounds:
KZN – Checkers store at Hillcrest in Durban at 10h00.
Free State – Checkers Hyper store in Bloemfontein at 10h30.
Northern Cape – Checkers store in Bultfontein Road, Kimberley at 09h00.
Western Cape – Rust en Vrede, Durbanville (across from Checkers, Durbanville) at 10h30.
Eastern Cape – Checkers store at the Metlife Plaza in Port Elizabeth at 09h30.
Gauteng – Checkers Hyper store at Edenvale and Shoprite store Sophia Town, both at 09h00.
Limpopo – Checkers store in Polokwane at 09h00.
North West – Shoprite store at Potchefstroom at 08h30.
Mpumalanga – Shoprite store in Nelspruit at 08h30.
Top food experts Martin Kobald, Carmen Niehaus, Justine Drake, Citrum Khumalo, Jenny Morris, Francois Ferreira, Peter Veldsman, Dorah Sitole and Kevin Gibbs, will once again act as official judges in the provincial rounds, as well as in the finals at Sun City. The 2007 Shoprite Checkers Championship Boerewors will also be receiving the South African Chefs Association’s stamp of approval, to ensure that the ingredients for South Africa’s best loved braaiwors are of the highest quality.
The 2007 Shoprite Checkers Championship Boerewors champion will walk away with a brand-new Toyota Hilux 2.7 Double Cab Raised Body Raider. Loads of other prizes are also up for grabs in the provincial and final rounds.
Shoprite Checkers Marketing Director, Brian Weyers, said the competition had once again shown that South Africans could produce exciting boerewors recipes of outstanding quality.
Results during the regional rounds have produced some interesting facts:
*Kathu in the Northern Cape - this year’s regional round winner at the town, Elizabeth Lesley, is married to Piet Lesley, a provincial finalist in 2006. They live at Kuruman.
*Vredenburg in the Western Cape - The 2006 Western Cape finalist, 15-year old Adriaan Venter, has finished second in this year’s regional round, with top honours going to his dad, Steven Venter.
*Andries Gama, second in a regional round at Nelspruit this year, is the father of Mpumalanga’s 2006 provincial finalist, Mandla Gama of Witrivier.
*Welkom in the Free State – well known butcher, Sakkie Schutte, a provincial finalist last year, has once again came out tops in this year’s regional round at the town.
*The winner of the 2006 Shoprite Checkers Championship Boerewors Championship, Riaan Becker, has meanwhile proved that sometimes, winning the coveted title could change your life for the better! He has since become a successful businessman and is running his own biltong factory at Rustenburg in Limpopo.
For more info on Shoprite Checkers Championship Boerewors, including mouthwatering recipes, look out for the latest consumer leaflet focusing on this truly South African delicacy. Leaflets are available at the Consumer Centre at the entrance of your local Shoprite or Checkers store. Electronic versions of the leaflets are also available on www.shopriteholdings.co.za in the Customer Care section.