Stage is set for new cycle race on KZN north coast

THE exciting inaugural Emilgroup/Ergon North Coast Challenger stage race, at the popular Holla Trails near Ballito, on April 14 to 16, is grabbing the attention of the country’s mountain-biking and trail-running communities.

Former professional cyclist and uMhlanga resident, Shaun Peschl, recently launched the event, which is made up of the three-day North Coast Challenger MTB Stage Race, presented by CeraGran, and a two-day North Coast Challenger Trail Run Stage Race, presented by Salomon.

The full-distance mountain bike event is aimed at teams of two with a short 20km prologue on Friday, April 14, followed by stages of 59km and 50km on Saturday and Sunday. While the focus is likely to be on the team race, individual entrants will add to the tactics and intrigue as solo riders will also be mixing it with the two-man teams and racing for glory over the same distances.

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Solo trail runners will tackle an 18km run on Saturday and finish with a 15km run on Sunday, April 16.

For both MTB riders and trail runners there will also be a ‘Lite’ option with the shorter MTB race distances of 18km, 30km and 25km over the three days, while the ‘Lite’ trail runners will compete over 10km and 7km on the weekend.

“The focus on this event is giving riders and runners a value-for-money event at a venue that has good facilities and caters for trail running and mountain biking,” said Peschl. “We have so many little extras that we will give to the riders and runners from our very generous sponsors, so the goody bags are now worth more than the entry fee in some cases. Riders and runners will get free gifts, clothing items, Cycle Lab vouchers and other bits and pieces, so many of them will think it is Christmas in April, and that has always been my aim with this event.

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“But of course none of that makes any difference if the route is not exciting and the riders and runners are not having three days of fun out on the trails. The old saying that the ‘Route is King’ is relevant here. We have used some of the most spectacular Holla Trails routes, but there are a few twists and surprises thrown in to make sure the regular visitors to Holla know they are not simply taking part in a regular weekend ride.”

Entries for all the team and solo events are open at www.roag.org or visit www.northcoastchallenger.co.za.

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