The tenth annual Giant’s Castle Mountain Bike Challenge, which took place in April, proved to be a major challenge for the participants in many respects. First cyclist home Brandon Stewart – with 5 wins from 6 starts – completed the course in a time of 3 hours, 46 minutes and 20 seconds. The first woman home was Tania Raats who was also fourth overall in a time of 4 hours, 14 minutes and 35 seconds. This was her fifth consecutive race. The oldest rider was 71-year-old Arthur Duncan and the youngest was 16-year-old Timothy Underwood. But participants faced far more than a grueling race in their record-breaking attempts: the weather also turned nasty as soon as the race was under way.
“Conditions proved to be testing for the majority of the riders,” says organizer Bruce Houghting. “What started out as a clear cool day, by late morning had turned into a cold overcast day with some hail and plenty of rain.”
“As a result of the rain the route along the Njesuthi Track from checkpoint 3 to Checkpoint 4 became somewhat treacherous and the riders had to concentrate harder to stay upright. Rocks became slippery to ride over and cold mud was flung into their faces. As for the final river crossing – where riders descend an extremely steep slope to a rocky river-bed at the bottom and then up a steep bank on the other side – the riders splashed through as usual, this time getting rid of some of the mud.”
Despite the unpredictable conditions and exceptionally rugged terrain, race entries are keenly sought after. The Challenge is definitely not for sissies! The trail follows a varied route which includes some tar road, unused bridle paths and a 4×4 track: much of which forms part of the 16km tooth-gritting “downhill” to the Bushmans River before re-joining the 8km tar road back up to the start/finish. For many people the Challenge lies, not in winning the event, but finishing the course at all.
The field is limited to only 400 riders, in order to protect the mountain habitat. This is a decision that was taken by EKZNW in conjunction with the organizers in order to prevent degradation of the route. It has had the unintended consequence of making the race an exclusive and sought-after event. Entrants come mainly from Gauteng, although there were also entrants from as far afield as the USA and Holland.
“This event has most certainly done a huge amount for the credibility of the sport of mountain biking,” says Houghting. “It has become the event against which others are measured – both from the organizational point of view and because of its route through one of KwaZulu-Natal’s World Heritage Sites.”
The race is unique in another respect: the participants, as a condition of entry, are required to collect a minimum ‘personal sponsorship’ of R200, which is donated in its entirety to the Wildlands Conservation Trust, an independent fund-raising and project management organization concerned with conservation-based community development in KwaZulu-Natal. This year’s race raised R165000 for conservation, with Bruce Houghting raising the highest amount of a personal sponsorship – an amazing sum of R22 500. The funds will be used to support the conservation efforts of Ezemvelo KZN Wildlife.
“By raising funds, the mountain bikers are showing their commitment to the future of this land on which we enjoy our activity,” adds Houghting. “The Challenge has certainly made many people take notice of the mountain-biking fraternity who really do care for the environment and are committed to doing something worthwhile to ensure the future of the great outdoors for our children.”
A further effort by the organizers to integrate the event into the local community is by employing local people to keep the route upgraded, thereby providing jobs for the local community. This year 5 ‘development riders’ from the local community were brought into the fold and they were sponsored bicycles and kit by two of the corporate sponsors of the Challenge. These ‘development riders’ are still however required to meet the conditions of entry that all the other participants are required to meet, in order to include them in the conservation effort.
The organizers of the Giant’s Castle Mountain-Bike Challenge and the Wildlands Conservation Trust would like to thank the generous sponsors of the event: the Title Sponsor Old Mutual Corporate, and support sponsors McCarthy Land Rover (Pmb), ABI Powerade (Ladysmith), Stihl (Pty) Ltd, Tomlinson Mnguni James Attorneys, Lufthansa, The Supply Company HBF Group in association with Medi Clinic, Greg Minnaar Racing Cycle Store and Intermap.
For further information, or to find out how to enter next year’s race, contact Bruce Houghting at 082 – 402-5654 or check out the website www.ecomotion.co.za.
WILDTRUST (registered as the Wildlands Conservation Trust - IT No: 4329/1991/PMB)