{"id":21259,"date":"2014-03-14T12:35:00","date_gmt":"2014-03-14T12:35:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/2014\/03\/14\/southern-african-mtb-cup-series-opening-round-this-weekend-at-cascades-r1275\/"},"modified":"2023-02-08T12:10:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-08T12:10:54","slug":"southern-african-mtb-cup-series-opening-round-this-weekend-at-cascades-r1275","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/southern-african-mtb-cup-series-opening-round-this-weekend-at-cascades-r1275\/","title":{"rendered":"Southern African MTB Cup Series opening round this weekend at Cascades"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The opening round of the 2014 Southern African Mountain Bike Cup Series kicks off in Pietermaritzburg, at Cascades Mountain Bike Park, on 15 and 16 March.<\/p>\n<p>Wet and cold conditions have prevailed throughout the week leading up to the event, and the host province is hoping that the rain stays at bay for the weekend\u2019s events.<\/p>\n<p>South Africa\u2019s top cross-country (XCO) and downhill (DHI) stars are expected to compete in a bid to accumulate UCI points \u2013 the XCO carries a UCI Category 1 rating for the Elite men and women, while the DHI carries a UCI Category 2 rating for the Elite men.<\/p>\n<p>Registration takes place at GM Cycles, at 439 Townbush Road, Montrose, Pietermaritburg, which is nearby to the Cascades MTB Park. <a href=\"http:\/\/www.gmcycles.co.za\/contact-us\/\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Click here<\/a> for directions<\/p>\n<p>Late entries will be accepted at registration, with a nominal charge of R50 in addition to the entry fee.<\/p>\n<p>Course designer Nick Floros explains the XCO course: \u201cThe course has changed over the last couple of weeks. We\u2019ve used the World Cup course, which makes it more twisty-turny, with short sharp climbs. There\u2019s 220m climbing over 4.8km. The track has all the technical sections, and it is really challenging and will suit the climbers. All the main features are included, such as Rapid Rocks and Buck Jump Alley.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Floros says the competitors will also enjoy the DHI course changes: \u201cThe course will be a little bit different to what the guys have raced in the past. The start is just above Haibo, and we\u2019ve opened up one or two new sections at the top. It makes the course twisty-turny at the top. We\u2019ve also utilised Dr Evil through the Gully into the pedal section. There\u2019s a small change coming out of the Bomb Hole, to spice it up a bit \u2013 it\u2019s about 200m in length, nothing hectic but the guys need to look at that. The track then drops onto the Masters\u2019 course from last year, towards Slip-and-Slide. We\u2019ve utilised the old 4X track, so the bottom is a little different to what the guys are used to.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><strong>Dates and Venues for the 2014 <\/strong><strong>Southern African Mountain Bike Cup <\/strong><strong>Series:<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>#1: 14-15 March &#8212; Cascades, Pietermaritzburg [KwaZulu-Natal]<\/li>\n<li><strong>#2: 19-20 April &#8212; Afriski, Lesotho *<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>#3: 24-25 May &#8212; Mankele, Nelspruit [Mpumalanga] *<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>#4: 21-22 June &#8212; Hayterdale Trails, Addo [Port Elizabeth] *<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>*Events that are part of the UCI Junior World Series <\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Spectators are welcome, and are encouraged to attend and to watch the country\u2019s top mountain biking stars in action in Pietermaritzburg. Racing starts at 08:00 with the young age groups on Saturday morning, with the Elite women setting of at 11:00 and the Elite men at 14:00. Downhill racing starts at 10:00 on Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>Detailed start times for the various categories can be downloaded and viewed <a href=\"http:\/\/www.cyclingsa.com\/App_Resources\/Uploads\/FILE00003152.pdf\" rel=\"external nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The opening round of the 2014 Southern African Mountain Bike Cup Series kicks off in Pietermaritzburg, at Cascades Mountain Bike Park, on 15 and 16 March. Wet and cold conditions have prevailed throughout the week leading up to the event, and the host province is hoping that the rain stays at bay for the weekend\u2019s [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[950,487,4609],"featured_location":[],"class_list":["post-21259","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-events","tag-cascades","tag-mtb","tag-mtb-cup-series"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21259"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21259\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21259"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21259"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21259"},{"taxonomy":"featured_location","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bikehub.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/featured_location?post=21259"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}