Attend sport and cultural festival

MOUNTAIN biking, road cycling, trail running and a road running event unite in the Bergville area as the highlight of the sporting side of the Drakensberg Extravaganza multicultural festival.

The 10-day festival of cultural and sporting events in the Bergville and Champagne Valley region offers something for everybody from off-road and on-road cycling, trail running and a road-running marathon to a series of business summits, a film festival and comedy, poetry, music and fashion shows. The Extravaganza starts on 21 November and takes place over two weekends, with the cycling and running events the highlights of the opening weekend.

The cycling road race on Sunday, 24 November and the mountain biking the day before both proved to be popular additions to the cycling calendar in 2018 with riders in both events enjoying the well-designed routes and slick organisation.

This year the road riders have a choice of three distances from a short 15km fun ride, a 40km intermediate event up to a serious 84km test. The start and finish of all events is in Bergville with the 84km riders completing a loop around the picturesque Woodstock Dam. The long route, which has been reversed from 2018, includes some testing climbs and a flat final 25km which means the top riders are faced with a test of fitness and tactics as they aim for a share of the generous prize fund.

The mountain biking and trail runs on Saturday, 23 November, will start and finish at the Champagne Sports Resort complex. The routes for both events take in some of the trails developed by the active Champagne Valley community as well as some new features which will be crafted specifically for the event. The trail run offers runners 5km and 10km options, while the mountain bikers can choose from 10km and 20km routes.

The Josiah Gumede road running marathon also takes place on Saturday, from the Bergville Sports Centre and road runners can choose from 10km, 21km and 42km races.

For entry forms go to https://drakensbergextra.co.za/ or contact Michelle on 084 407 5566 or Kelvin on 082 446 9833. Online entries via ROAG (www.roag.co.za).

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