MOSSEL BAY NEWS - The Ladismith Cheese 7Weekspoort MTB Challenge cele-brates its fourteenth edition on 30 September. Though the route is short on singletrack, it is big on scenery which ensures that riders return year-on-year; drawn by the lure of the majestic Seweweekspoort.
The event boasts a family friendly atmosphere cultivated by the large number of charity entries donated to the local community by
title sponsors, Ladismith Cheese, and facilitated by the varied route options. From the short and easy 29km, to the challenging but breath-takingly beautiful 85km, and including an intermediate 43km, there is a distance for all levels of mountain biker.
All the distances start at the Lutheran church in Amaliënstein, 25km outside of Ladismith, just off Route 62. The races all finish at a new venue in Ladismith, the Showgrounds of the Shalom Academy, for the first time in 2017 as the event has outgrown the fields of the Ladismith High School – its traditional finish venue for the first thirteen events.
The primary route from Amaliënstein to Ladismith, which all the race distances follow takes in the orchards of the lush Hoeko Valley and the winding passes through the foothills of the Klein Swartberg Mountains – in the shadow of To-werkop and Seweweekspoort mountain peaks.
The flagship, 85 kilometre, the route includes the area's most striking feature, the Seweweeks-poort itself. The route makes the gradual ascent from the Little Karoo to the Great Karoo through the Seweekspoort, where highway men and cattle rustlers once evaded the police in the yore. Once in the Great Karoo a 10km loop spreads out the field before the riders descend back to the Little Karoo through the poort to Amaliënstein. From Amaliënstein the longer distances join the 29km route as they too make their way to Ladismith.
For the 2017 edition of the Ladismith Cheese 7Weekspoort MTB Challenge Dryland Event Management have introduced a schools' race too. This competition allows schools to enter teams of five riders in Nipper (8-10), Sprogs (11-12) and Sub Junior (13-14) age categories wherein the team with the best combined time will be declared the victors.
It is hoped that this new race within the race will help foster a lifelong love of mountain biking in the young riders taking part and introduce them to some of the most beautiful areas in the country.
For more information on the Ladismith Cheese 7Weekspoort MTB Challenge, and for online entries, visit www.7weekspoortmtb.co.za. While to enter a team for your school please contact Dryland Event Management at info@dryland.co.za or on 044 279 1013.
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