Following an action packed 2014 season, fierce competition and exciting racing is expected at the Gauteng finals of the Anatomic Spur MTB Series to be hosted at FH Odendaal High School in Pretoria this Saturday, 20 September.
Junior Boys in action
A ding-dong battle has evolved between the top three schools on the log – Menlopark High School, Midstream College and Zwartkop High School – and they will have to give it their all on Saturday to secure podium positions. Other schools securing their places amongst the top ten include Noordheuwel, Centurion, Diepsloot Academy, Transvalia, Garsfontein and Helpmekaar College.
Thana Groenewald – Midstream College – Sub Junior Girls
The league, which was launched in 2009 as a joint initiative between Spur and Amarider, has exceeded all initial projections in terms numbers and reach and has grown from 1600 entries and 21 events in 2009 to last year’s 5300 entries from 42 events.
League co-ordinator Meurant Botha of Amarider attributes the amazing growth of the League to the ongoing and hands-on involvement of Spur Steak Ranches as well as the efforts of a team of dedicated regional organisers and school co-ordinators, who collectively hosted more than fifty events leading up to the record-breaking final.
According to Gauteng league co-ordinator, Deon Steyn the year-on-year growth in the league has been amazing. Since becoming part of the national Spur School Mountain Bike League in 2009, the numbers has shot up from 225 to 609 participants last year.
Steyn, who is one of only seven UCI International Moutain Bike Commissaires in South Africa, is invested in establishing the sport of mountain bike riding as an official school sport. He developed a special school commissaires’ training course, which he presented in Gauteng recently as part of his effort to formalise the sport.
“The Anatomic High School MTB Series has become the biggest XCO series in South Africa, drawing more participants than provincial and even national races. Up until last year the Gauteng Series was open to everybody and we had riders from Limpopo, Freestate, NW and Mpumlanga participating in the Gauteng events.
The growth of the league necessitated that we split the regions to avoid racing fields becoming too big for the cross-country lap racing format (also the Olympic format) of the league,” said Steyn.
The route opens for practice will be open from 07h30 to 08h45 for practice with racing starting at 09h00. All riders must be ready at the start 20 minutes before their respective start time: Sub-junior boys (13-14 years) start at 09:00 and the girls at 09:05.
Janice Venter – Hoërskool Menlopark – Junior Girls
The youth boys 15 years start 10:00 followed by the girls at 10h05. The youth boys (16 years) will set off at 11:00 with the girls at 11:05. The junior boys (17-18 years) and junior women will wrap up the day’s racing at 12:00 and 12:05 respectively with prize giving at 13:15.
Diarise National Finals
Mountain bike enthusiasts should diarise the weekend of 4-5 October when the cream of high school mountain bike riders from across South Africa, Namibia and Zimbabwe will take to the track at Bekker School in Magaliesburg for the finals of the 2014 Spur High School Mountain Bike League. With more than 40 schools vying for the coveted floating trophy of top cycling school in the country, fierce racing is expected in all three categories – boys, girls and mixed.
A maximum of 12 riders are allowed per team with points allocated to the top five boys, top three girls and three and two points respectively in the mixed category. On Sunday, an interprovincial event will be hosted in the same format on the same route.
Currently in its sixth season, the Spur School Mountain Bike League has surpassed all expectations in terms of participation and reach logging an average participation growth of 40% and close on 10 000 riders taking part in the 2014 season.
For more information on the Spur High School Mountain Bike league and the finals at Bekker School from 4 to 5 October, visit http://www.spur.co.za/about-us/event/spur-mtb-league or www.amarider.co.za or contact Amarider on 021 884 4547.
All three school boys in the foreground of the pic are on 100k Epics....wish my dad had bought me one of those in school! haha