LA Lucia resident, Sean Woodcock, has always been a sports fanatic. So when he launched his events company recently, he decided to combine two of his passions, sports and eventing. The 28-year-old launched the Amabutho Classic Series which takes place at Giba Gorge on Saturday, 23 July.
The event, caters for both the trail runner and mountain biker. The inaugural event will also support WSSA (Water Shortage South Africa) fund which delivers water to drought stricken areas around the country.
The former Durban High School pupil explained his decision to launch the series.
“Since forming, Michael Downes, Kyle Raffle and I have primarily been involved in music festivals, but we always wanted to get into adventure sports with the aim of creating something different a well as giving something back to the community. We chose the name Amabutho because it means The Zulu Warrior just to encompass what the series is about. We are planning on hosting other races along the north and south coast. You don’t have many events catering for both MTB racing and trail running at the same time. We want to attract both amateur and experienced athletes wanting to test their limits.
“For the first event, there will be a various races of varying lengths. There will be an 11 and 28 kilometre MTB race, plus a 15 and 9 kilometre trail run. We chose Giba because it’s quite a technically sound and challenging course. The biggest thing for us is the family colour trail which offers both parents and kids an opportunity to complete a trail race together. It’s a 5 kilometre mountain bike or trail run route. Competitors will have the option of being splashed with colour powder before heading off into the Giba forest on an adventurous trail with a few obstacles along the way,” he said.
To enter visit www.amabuthoclassic.co.za or visit www.roag.co.za. Registration for the event takes place between 6.30am and 8.30am.
“We are asking participants not to donate money but if they want to support the WSSA to donate bottles of water to the WSSA stand that we will have at the event which we will hand over to the charity.”
