Mountain bike races in South Africa are very popular and a great way to experience the mountain biking. Competing in an MTB event is good fun and a challenge for all who participate. However for the race snakes it means real competition and flatout racing for the best MTB race results. These mountain bike races are almost always out in the country in beautiful locations with routes only rideable for the event. Staying over and seeing more of South Africa, meeting other riders and socialising is what makes it so attractive. These events may be called races but for most they are just personal challenges and a way to get out and ride.
Every year the mountain bike race calendar seems to get longer and offer more options to mountain bikers. Not only have the number of events increased, but so has the variety. Traditional club, provincial and national mountain bike cross country races were the beginning. Then there were classic endurance mountain bike races and marathon events like the Sabie Classic, Giants Castle Challenge and Karoo to Coast. But as more and more people started entering races the classic distances of 60-80km were a bit long for new comers. This led to half marathons in the 30-40km range, making mountain bike racing more accessible.
However at the same time the longer multi-day mountain bike stage races have become popular. With the inaugural Cape Epic in 2004, a multi day stage race covering over 800km in 8 days, a new benchmark was set. Now there are several multi- day mountain bike races around, including the Joberg2C, Sani2C, and Wines2Whales.
The more extreme types of riding like trails riding, freeriding and downhill mountain biking are gaining popularity in South Africa. Traditional downhill racing has gained more publicity through the achievements of South African and World Champion racer Greg Minnaar and more recently Andrew Neetling. Enduro mountain bike events have popped up with a more relaxed event vibe allowing the more technically skilled riders to participate in timed runs down technical singletrack routes.
Mountain Bike Races Reviewed
MTB Race Results and Entries
Advendurance
Mountain Bike races and results for MTN national series marathon and cross country mountain bike series races. Race entries and results for a series of mountain bike races in Gauteng with a mix of fast gravel roads, technical single track, rocky descents, water crossings, and spectacular ridgeline views.
Entrytime.com
Entries and results for mountain bike races nationally
ROAG
Race Organisers Admin Group is an event administration system. ROAG’s primary objective is to simplify and streamline the administration of minority sport events in South Africa. ROAG provides both sports people and events with a unified admin portal.
Cycle Events
Online entries and results for cycle races
RaceTec
The other timing chip company handling many of the major events
Ndorfin
A dedicated race calender site with many events including mtb races.