Time for young mountain bikers to saddle up for Spur league

AVID junior mountain bikers have been urged to get their entries in for the 2018 edition of the Spur Schools Mountain bike league which gets under way in the Southern Cape this weekend.

Thousands of young riders will saddle up for what is set to be the biggest event since its inception with more than 13 000 riders expected to be part of the league.

The Spur Schools MTB League features riders from 11 regions across the country, with the Eastern Cape being split into East London and Port Elizabeth regions.

East London and Port Elizabeth will host three events each with a regional final alternating annually between the two.

This year’s regional final will be hosted in the metro with the top schools from each region, as well as some of the top individual riders, moving on to the national finals in Gauteng in October.

The series, which was es tablished in 2009 with a field comprising fewer than 1 600 riders from 115 schools competing in just 20 events, has grown tremendously over the last decade.

According to 2017 figures, more than 12 700 riders from 496 schools formed part of the league.

This year is set to be another bumper year for the event with a 20-30% increase in rider participation expected.

With both primary (certain regions) and high schools represented in this year’s league, age categories for primary school riders start at seven to 14 years, while high school age categories will range from 14 to 18 years.

Meurant Botha, director of Amarider, the League’s principal organiser, said the sporting initiative sought to introduce more school-going children to MTB and to encourage South African schools to adopt it as an official in-school sport.

He said the initiative also aimed to provide regional and national structure in MTB at school level.

“By offering MTB as a school sport, it’s the perfect opportunity for those children who lack the ball skills that go with soccer, rugby and cricket to be active as well, and participate in a sport that is as much fun,” Botha said.

Over the years, the league has played a pivotal role in jump-starting the careers of many top South African mountain bikers.

Avid rider Alan Hatherly has taken his love for MTB beyond the high school tournament.

This year, Hatherly was a team South Africa member who competed at the Commonwealth Games in Australia and scooped a bronze medal in the men’s cross country mountain bike race.

Hatherly participated in five League events during his high school career and is part of Team Spur.

Regional event dates for Port Elizabeth are June 10, July 28 and August 12, with the regional final on September 2.