Get Up To Speed with ’Maritzburg’s Mountain Bike World Cup

The city of Pietermaritzburg will once again play host to the first round of the 2012 RockyRoads.net UCI MTB World Cup presented by Shimano, opening the global cross-country and downhill series on African soil for the third time.

The well-loved Cascades mountain biking venue, that hosted both the 2009 and 2011 UCI MTB World Cups, has undergone many transformations and the cross-country course in particular was lauded in 2011 as a challenging course that provided the most fun!

Hoards of spectators and numerous international trade teams are expected to descend on the city once again as cross-country mountain bikers vie for all-important UCI-points early in the Olympic year for this Olympic discipline.

Downhill, and cross-country, competitors alike will be looking to start their year on a high note and with maximum points before embarking on the season, which will span almost 6-months and take them to many countries including Belgium, Czech Republic, France, Italy, Great Britain, Canada, USA, Norway and Austria.

The 2012 event will be organised by Cycling SA and Alec Lenferna will once again serve as the Event Director.  The event organisers have been hard at work to secure great offers for athletes who wish to be part of this extraordinary event, and are very pleased to announce that our national carrier South African Airways (SAA) is an official event partner – all teams and riders travelling to the event (from whichever departure destination in the world) can benefit from discounted rates and special travel benefits.

Tourism KwaZulu-Natal and the KZN Department of Economic Development and Tourism proudly support the 2012 Rocky Roads.net UCI MTB World Cup Pietermaritzburg presented by Shimano – a world-class event that showcases the beautiful and diverse Zulu Kingdom.

Event Schedule:

 Cascades presents the Olympic cross-country (XCO) and Downhill (DHI) disciplines at the first round of the 2012 Rocky Roads UCI MTB World Cup Series – the recently signed off event schedule can be viewed as follows, and any changes will be communicated in due course:

• Wednesday 14^th March 2012
  • 08:30 - 11:00 Downhill Course Inspection by UCI
  • 08:30 - 09:30 World Cup Riders Confirmation >>> UCI ELITE MTB Teams only
  • 09:30 - 11:00 World Cup Riders Confirmation >>> UCI MTB Teams only
  • 11:00 - 13:00 World Cup Riders Confirmation >>> All riders
  • 13:00 - 15:00 Cross-country Course Inspection by UCI
  • 14:00 - 16:00 On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Riders/Teams

• Thursday 15^th March 2012
  • 08:30 - 14:30 Official Downhill Training >>> World Cup riders only
  • 08:30 - 12:00 World Cup Riders Confirmation >>> All riders
  • 10:00 - 16:00 Official Cross-country Training >>> World Cup riders only
  • 13:00 - 15:00 World Cup Riders Confirmation >>> All riders [Final Confirmation DHI]
  • 14:45 - 16:15 Downhill Timed Training >>> Top 80 Men & Top 20 Women only
  • 16:15 - 16:45 On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Riders/Teams
  • 17:00 Team Managers Meeting - DHI

• Friday 16^th March 2012
  • 08:30 - 11:30 Official Downhill Training >>> World Cup riders only
  • 09:00 - 11:00 World Cup Riders Confirmation >>> XCO riders only [Final Confirmation XCO]
  • 10:00 - 14:00 Official Cross-country Training >>> World Cup riders only
  • 11:30 - 13:00 Official Downhill Training >>> Top 80 Men & Top 20 Women only
  • 14:30 World Cup Downhill - Qualifying Round
  • 30 minutes On Foot Downhill Course Inspection - Riders/Teams
  • 17:30 Team Managers Meeting – XCO

• Saturday 17^th March 2012
  • 09:30 - 12:00 Official Downhill Training >>> World Cup Finals starters only
  • 09:00 World Cup Olympic Cross-country - Men U23 followed by Awards Ceremony: Top 3 - World Cup leader
  • 11:30 World Cup Olympic Cross-country - Women Elite followed by Awards Ceremony: Top 5 - World Cup leading team - World Cup leader
  • 14:00 World Cup Olympic Cross-country - Men Elite followed by Awards Ceremony: Top 5 - World Cup leading team - World Cup leader
  • 16:30 World Cup Olympic Cross-country - Women U23
  • 16:31 World Cup Olympic Cross-country - Women Juniors
  • Awards Ceremony>>> Top 3 Juniors - Top 3 Under 23 - World Cup leader U23

• Sunday 18^th March 2012
  • 09:30 World Cup Olympic Cross-country - Men Juniors followed by Awards Ceremony: Top 3
  • 09:30 - 12:00 Official Downhill Training >>> World Cup Finals starters only
  • 12:00 - 12:15 Downhill Rider Intro Women and Men>>> Top 5 Qualifying Round - World Cup leaders (elite and juniors)
  • 13:15 World Cup Downhill - Final – Women
  • 14:00 World Cup Downhill - Final – Men
  • Downhill Awards Ceremony>>> Women - World Cup leading team – Men

Fast Facts about each competition course:

XCO – 5.15km long  // 707m altitude variance

With Nick Floros at the helm when it comes to design and construction, the Cross Country course that was utilised for the 2011 UCI MTB World Cup and garnered much praise.  Although not a massive course, it is one that tests the rider throughout and Nick and his team have already identified areas where the course can be made more testing and a course that will ensure that the best and strongest riders on the day will succeed.

DHI – 2.88km long // 361m altitude variance

Considered to be a “pedally” course, the Downhill course in Pietermaritzburg is one for the stronger riders, and course designer Nigel Hicks has done an excellent job on the course with the terrain that he has to work with.  He and his team are working on making some improvements to the course with some additional rhythm sections being added as well as some new jumps for 2012.

For more comprehensive information about the event and the linked entities, please visit the website www.mtbworldcupsa.co.za, which is now live.

Additional Events and Activities

2012 will once again see a bonanza of mountain biking events in Kwazulu-Natal and three UCI rated events will be staged in the region in the weeks leading up to the 2012 Rocky Roads UCI MTB World Cup presented by Shimano in Pietermaritzburg.

The dates and venues for these events are as follows:

• 19^th February 2012 – XCO – Giba Gorge
• 4^th March 2012 – XCO – Karkloof
• 10^th March 2012 – XCO – Cascades
• 11^th March 2012 – DHI – Cascades

These events are presented by Momentum Health and the events will be organised and managed by the KZN MTB Commission and all details will be published shortly on their website at www.kznmtb.co.za.

Online entries are open on the ROAG website at www.roag.co.za - for more information, please email info@kznmtb.co.za.

The event office will be closed from 15^th December 2011 – 9^th January 2012 and the organisers will be on leave at this time over the festive season.  All relevant event information will appear on the event website at www.mtbworldcupsa.co.za and if there are additional queries, these should be addressed to Alec Lenferna at alec@realem.co.za from the 9^th January 2012.