LOCALS will be all sweat and gears, as they look to drop a gear and disappear in this year’s Bell Big 5 Zululand MTB series.
The five-race mountain bike series will be held over a six month period.
The challenge is to complete all five races to claim a finisher’s medal.
The races are chosen out of a multitude of races in Zululand, with each offering unique mountain biking conditions – from coastal forest single tracks to inland hills and climbs with spectacular views.
There are rural and urban riding, plantation jeep and single track, tracks along rivers and even a race through the iSimangaliso’s False Bay game reserve along the shores of Lake St Lucia.
This is Zululand riding, wild and wonderful.
An added bonus is the close proximity to the iSimangaliso Wetlands, a World Heritage site with its eastern and western shores, Sodwana, Vidal, Kosi Bay, plus the Big 5 Game Reserve of uMkhuze, and in the east the well-known iMfolozi-Hluhluwe Game Park.
This year will be the ninth series race, which saw MiWay as the key sponsor for the past three years.
Bell Equipment is the new main sponsor of the series, that grows every year in leaps and bounds.
The 50km, 25km and 10km races are timed and count toward the Bell Big 5 Series Challenge title, where riders’ best four times out of five count toward a series position.
The Zini River Estate Buffalo Classic is race one on 3 May.
The second race, the Pick n Pay Elephant Classic eShowe, will take place on 22 June.
The BuildIt Kwambo Lion race will be held on 20 July, followed by the Monzi Hippo race on 7 September, with the last race being the Superspar Hluhluwe Rhino Charge on 21 September.
Prize-giving for the Bell Big 5 Series will be held at the Zululand Multi Sports Club on 4 October.
