FRIENDLY CITY PREPARES TO WELCOME 2015 XCO CUP SERIES OPENER

14 January 2015 – The opening round of the Stihl 2015 SA Mountain Bike Cross-country (XCO) Cup Series will take place in the heart of Port Elizabeth in partnership with East Cape MTB, at the William Moffet Retail Park on Saturday 28 February.

With a UCI category 1 rating for Elite Men and Women, South Africa’s top XCO stars are expected to compete in a bid to accumulate UCI points towards their Rio Olympics 2016 qualification.

Starting and finishing at the William Moffet Retail Park, the 4.7km route with 170m total ascent winds through the Baakens Valley Nature Reserve. Natural obstacles and some short, sharp climbs in the valley will offer a challenge come race day. The loose gravel on some of the climbs increases the challenge on the technical course.

Online pre-entries are open, and close on Tuesday 24 February. Click here to enter: http://csams.cyclingsa.com/enter-an-event/mtb/2015---mtb---sa-cup-series-1-xco.aspx. Late entries will be accepted at registration, with a nominal charge of R50 in addition to the entry fee.

The finer touches are still to be made on the top-class course, and already the “race snakes” are out to set the fastest lap in the East Cape MTB Strava competition http://www.xconationalpe.co.za/#Strava. If you plan on riding the course, send your pictures and clips to East Cape MTB and have it featured on the event website. It’s easy – post it on Instagram and use the hashtag #xconationalpe. The official event website is http://xconationalpe.co.za.

View the route profile here: http://www.xconationalpe.co.za/wp-content/uploads/2015/01/172-Elevation.jpg

Discipline           Dates 2015      City                                  Venue
DHI #1               21-Feb             Cape Town                      TBC
XCO #1             28-Feb              Port Elizabeth                 William Moffet Retail Park
XCO #2*            28-Mar             Johannesburg                 Voortrekker Monument
DHI #2               05-Apr              Pietermaritzburg             Cascades
XCO #3*            25-Apr              Nelspruit                         Mankele
DHI #3               26-Apr              Nelspruit                         Mankele
XCO #4*            27-Jun              Pietermaritzburg             Cascades
DHI #4               28-Jun              Pietermaritzburg             Cascades
XCO Champs    18-Jul               Cape Town                     TBC
DHI Champs      19-Jul               Cape Town                     TBC
 
Juniors will be able to earn UCI points in the XCO rounds 2, 3 and 4 as part of UCI Junior World Series. With the Junior categories taken out of the UCI MTB World Cups, Juniors will again participate in their own world series to garner valuable UCI points.

The Danish Cycling Federation National MTB Coach, Mads Bødker, has confirmed that his national team, which includes Junior World Champion Simon Andreassen, will be competing in the Johannesburg leg on 28 March. The team will also be competing in the HC category XCO event, which is part of the 2015 Pietermaritzburg MTB Festival, on 4 April.