MTB stars in Mandela Marathon
Mountain bikers from around the world will join the big field of road runners taking part in the Mandela Marathon on Sunday 25 August by staging a special 10km "honour ride" that will end at the race finish venue at the Mandela Capture Site outside Howick.
With the Mandela Marathon falling on the last day of the UCI MTB Masters World Championships, and the day before the official start of the elite UCI MTB and Trials World Championships, the mountain biking community will honour Mandela by staging a non-competitive closed mass ride of 120 participants from the 60 nations involved at the World Championships, from Howick to the Capture Site finish venue.
The riders will be well ahead of any of the runners taking part in the variety of road races, and after a 6:45 am start are expect to be at the Capture Site before 7am.
There they will all sign a UCI World Championships jersey, which will be handed to the uMgungundlovu District Municipality representatives, before the UCI (International Cycling Federation) flag and the Cycling South Africa flag are raised at the finish venue.
The cyclists will then depart for the Cascades MTB Park where the final day's action of the UCI Masters World Championships will get under way.
"It is a thrill to be able to contribute to the Mandela Marathon programme during the World Championships," said event director Alec Lenferna. "We have a close working relationship with the uMgungundlovu Municipality and we want to assist where we can to grow and expand the Mandela Marathon."
Lenferna said there had been a great deal of interest from the international riders to take part in the "honour ride" and that the onus on selecting the two representatives per country had been handed to each national federation.
He added that the backing of the uMgungundlovu Municipality in supporting journalists covering the events at the Cascades MTB Park was evidence of the strong reciprocal relationship that existed between the city and the cycling event, arguably the most important cycling event that has ever been hosted on the African continent.
"We are all proud of what the city and the province has achieved in establishing Pietermaritzburg as Africa's "Bike City" over the years," said Lenferna.
"It will be a very special morning when we can contribute to the Mandela Marathon with a delegation of the worlds best mountain bikers keen to honour Madiba," he added.
Lenferna stressed that the "honour ride" was not open to the public, but said he hoped that the expanded Mandela Week programme could include a mountain bike and a road race cycling component in future years.
"While we are excited to have the world's very best mountain bikers in Pietermaritzburg this month, we hope it will help to inspire more people to get involved in cycling and MTB riding in particular," Lenferna said.
The UCI MTB & Trials World Championships take place at Cascades MTB Park in Pietermaritzburg from 26 August - 1 September and are preceded by the UCI MTB Masters World Championships from 21 - 25 August 2013.
- Gameplan Media
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