If breaking bottles were a sport, this disused centre can house it

A multimillion-rand sports complex lies in ruins with the only sport practised there "breaking glass bottles on the cycling track", said one disillusioned benefactor trying to save it.

- Tobie van den Bergh

The complex, 15km outside Middelburg, once consisted of kitchens, dining halls, single-person accommodation, a clubhouse, a stadium with a 500m cement cycling track and a soccer field.

Donated to the Mpumalanga department of sport, it even set up a "high-performance gym", all to no avail, said Riaan Koegelenberg, an experienced cycling official and father of the Amashova Project that assisted emerging cyclists.

"Only the best equipment was in there. The University of Pretoria's High-Performance Centre were involved initially to help with the province's sportsmen. They were on site once or twice, but without athletes, what do you do there?