King Price has increased its investment in mountain biking by taking on the sponsor title of some of South Africa’s premier mountain bike events.
In a three-year deal (starting in 2021), King Price will take over as the title sponsor of the popular Trailseeker Mountain Bike Series.
In addition to this, it will be the title sponsor of Race to the Sun and Race to the Sea, and also the presenting sponsor of the Cullinan 2 Tonteldoos, a 265km, 24-hour ultra-distance mountain bike race.
“Cycling is a growing sport in South Africa, and we’re extremely excited to be part of these events and to support this expansion,” said King Price’s Wynand van Vuuren.
“Through this partnership with Faces (the sporting events company is formerly known as Advendurance), we’ll be staging world-class mountain biking events right here in South Africa. The Faces crew are known for spoiling their participants and this fits perfectly with our kingdom’s value of delivering royal service.”
Race to the Sun and Race to the Sea both cover around 165km in a point-to-point format over mostly gravel roads, with Race to the Sun taking participants from the picturesque Hartbeespoort Dam to the tourist-favourite Sun City.
And if that stellar scenery isn’t enough, cyclists can take on the Race to the Sea on January 30, 2021 where they’ll get to ride from picture-perfect Franschhoek to postcard-ready Hermanus in the Western Cape.
While Cullinan 2 Tonteldoos started out as a social riding challenge in 2015, it’s now one of the country’s most popular mountain bike challenges.
It starts in Cullinan, northwest of Pretoria and finishes at Tonteldoos, a small settlement in the Mpumalanga Highlands near Dullstroom, using mostly non-technical gravel roads.
The event starts in the late afternoon, which means that riders must ride through the night, only to see the sun rising over a vastly different landscape.
This year’s event is due to take place on November 6 and 7 and is almost sold out already.
King Price’s sponsorship comes at a time of renewed interest in races, as no events have been permitted in South Africa for the past six months due to the government’s lockdown in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Former sponsor Nissan backed the Trailseeker Series since its inception in 2009.
The series was initially based in Gauteng but has since expanded to include events in the Western Cape.
With over 15 000 entrants annually, it’s the largest mountain bike race series in South Africa, and probably the world.
“We’ve had an amazing partnership with Nissan, which has been our longest-running sponsor of any of our properties. While Nissan’s support has enabled us to expand on the heightened interest we’re seeing in the cycling community, we’re extremely excited to collaborate with King Price,” said Pienaar (Faces).
Van Vuuren said, “We’re honoured to be part of this series of events. So many of our own staff members take part in these challenges and rely on our R1 bicycle insurance to cover them for any accidents and oopsies on the route, so it’s exciting to now be involved more formally as well. We can’t wait to get started and see everyone out there!”
To enter, or for more information on the events mentioned, follow these links:
Nissan Trailseeker Series: https://mtb.trailseekerseries.co.za
Cullinan 2 Tonteldoos, presented by King Price: https://c2tmtb.co.za
King Price Race to the Sun: https://racetothesun.co.za
King Price Race to the Sea: https://racetothesea.co.za
For more information contact Fritz Pienaar on fritz@faces.africa.
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