Modern Cyclist Magazine Issue 1, September 2014 | Page 15

amashova MC

Melusi Dladla, Nomkhosi Mjwara &
Siphamandla Dladla have entered
the 35km family run ride, got their
cycling license and applied for
transport and are now ready
to roll.

Runners vs Cyclists
Who will get there first?

What started out as a group of cyclists

who wanted to get to the Amashova Durban
Classic on their bicycles is now a full scale race
between cyclists and marathon runners.
And the numbers look impressive too, with a
target of 550 kilometres in 50 hours!

Family cycling fun

Moms, dads, grandparents and of course the professional cyclists of the future
will take part in the Tsogo Sun Amashova Classic next month.
No, you don’t have to ride the full 106 kilometres from Pietermaritzburg to
Durban. Neither do you have to ride the 65 kilometre event from Cato Ridge to
Durban.
Designed especially for you, the Tsogo Sun Amashova has a 35 kilometre fun
ride on Sunday 12 October. For those riders that still need car seats, there is also
the Mini Shova, which takes place on the morning of Saturday, 11 October.

Get UCI
points at
Amashova

With various events over a full cycling
weekend, the Tsogo Sun Amashova Durban
Classic should be on everyone’s “must do”.

Competitive cyclists who take
part in this year’s Tsogo Sun
Amashova Durban Classic will
receive points as part of the
2015 UCI World Cycling Tour.
The 106km road cycling classic, which begins in Pietermaritzburg at the
City Hall and finishes at Suncoast on Durban’s Golden Mile , which takes
place on 12 October, replaces the Msunduzi Road Challenge as the only
African qualifier for the UCI’s Amateur Road World Championships.
The UWCT is known as the amateur Worlds qualifying series, and consists of
15 qualifying events all over the world.

It’s called the ELB Extreme Road Challenge
with the cyclists leaving Stonehaven on Vaal at
08:00 on 8 October and the non-stop, 24 hour
relay marathon runners leaving Stonehaven on
Vaal at around 11:00 on Thursday 9 October.
It all started about six years ago, with
Rodger Winter and a few friends riding from
Johannesburg to Pietermaritzburg in order to
take part in the Amashova. Up until now, they
rode the distance and tried to raise money for
CHOC along the way.
“This year,” Rodger explained, “the CEO of ELB
Dr Stephen Meijers, who is a keen long distance
runner, asked me to include a few relay teams
of five runners in each team who would then
race the cyclists down to Pietermaritzburg.”
Thus, the ELB Extreme Road Challenge has
become a reality and again, the event has
as its benefactor the Johannesburg-based St
Vincent School for the Deaf which has about
350 pupils.
Runners, who are split up into five teams of
five runners, will run a minimum distance of 70
kilometres per turn, and will run throughout the
day and night in their attempt to try and catch
the cyclists.
Cyclists, in turn, will set off at 08:00 on 8
October from Stonehaven on Vaal and finish in
Pietermaritzburg on 11 October, with bragging
rights given to who finishes first.

15