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<\/a>The opening leg of the Madibaz XCO Series will take place on the NMMU campus in George on April 23<\/span><\/p>\nBased at the NMMU campus in George, the series will comprise four events, with further races taking place on June 10, August 27 and October 29.<\/p>\n
The August leg will, for the first time, include an intervarsity division for top student riders from around the country.<\/p>\n
Race director Jan Venter, of NMMU, said the series was aimed at attracting riders to the sport and that was why they had opted for a cross country course rather than a point-to-point route.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs our main focus is on development, cross country, which is an Olympic sport, is the way to go in setting up the course,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn addition, while there are plenty of marathon races, there have been no cross country events of this nature in the Eden region so we wanted to create something for the riders.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venter said they would like to see the series \u2013 now in its second year \u2013 grow and for this reason they had deliberately kept entry fees reasonable.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is R50 for children and R90 for adults, so it is not expensive. We are cautiously optimistic that we will see a rise in numbers this year.\u201d<\/p>\n
He added that they had attracted about 60 participants per race in the inaugural series and hoped to improve on that, thanks to a sponsorship from Old Mutual Private Wealth Management.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis sponsorship has enabled us to offer some attractive prizes while Old Mutual will also be bringing some of their clients to take part,\u201d said Venter.<\/p>\n
Further support for the event, which is open to anyone, has come from Ridelife George, Giant South Africa and Tippeton.<\/p>\n
He said the length of the laps were 5.1km for sub-juniors (12 years) and up and 3.2km for the younger categories.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn cross country racing there is a nice mix of everything, with some technical areas, single-track and normal gravel roads making up the course.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are some challenging technical bits but we have created A and B lines, so you can just take the B line if you want to, although you will lose a bit of time.\u201d<\/p>\n
Venter added they had collaborated with the Mountain to Ocean Forestry company in the construction of the course as part of it crossed their land.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have also worked with the Hillbillies Cross Country Club, who have built a lot of trails in the area, and we also built some trails.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe loop nature of the course, which is partly on the campus and partly off it, means you can see the riders often.\u201d<\/p>\n
He said the series champions would be determined by adding the points from riders\u2019 top three finishes together.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe top three in each age category \u2013 from nippers to grandmasters \u2013 will receive medals.\u201d<\/p>\n