Some pleasant surprises will await the riders who compete in the Cape Pioneer Trek that is scheduled to take place in the Klein Karoo from 14 to 22 October 2012.
The most exciting news will certainly be the promise made by Henco Rademeyer (Dryland Event Management) that walking will be kept to a minimum during the seven days of racing. “We have decided to shorten the stages. This means that the middle markers will race, at the most, five to six hours per day instead of the previous eight and more hours. “This year the emphasis will be on quality riding and enjoyment, without compromising the pioneering spirit this event is so well known for. “Our challenge when planning the route will therefore be to ensure that those tough sections, where the riders are forced to get off their mountain bikes and push, are kept to a minimum. “We are looking at the possibility of incorporating some of the trails that are used by cattle and game. This will provide awesome single-track racing.
“Another novelty will be that the Cape Pioneer Trek will change from a six-day to a seven-day stage race. “The tour will start with a prologue on Sunday at Buffelsdrift Game Lodge just outside of Oudtshoorn. We will utilize the unbelievable scenery, tracks and wildlife experience at Buffelsdrift as well as the 20 kilometres of flowing single-track found at MTBdestination.com next door to the lodge. “We basically want to give riders the opportunity to race among some game, such as elephant and rhino, for example.” According to Rademeyer, the exact route for the tour has not been finalized yet. The new route will be launched on May the 31st. “Riders have requested to ride the Swartberg pass and Meiringspoort again.”This means that towns such as, Calitzdorp, De Rust and Oudtshoorn, of course, will be on route.
“We are, actually, working towards making the Cape Pioneer Trek an event that will be ‘proudly’ Klein Karoo.”If we should decide to use basically the same route every year, we will be able to give back more to the communities, especially the poorer communities. “Last year some of the international riders have already offered to become involved in helping some of the poorer schools in the towns through which they rode.”For this reason we are also planning to let the riders ride through some of the rural villages in our area so that they can experience for themselves what the Karoo is really about.
Rademeyer proudly announced that, during last year’s Cape Pioneer Trek Gala Dinner, a number of cycling jerseys were auctioned off. Among these were the jerseys of SA’s premier mountain bike team of Kevin Evans and David George (Nedbank360Life) and Christoph Sauser (36ONE/Songo.info), current UCI world marathon champion. It was the idea of Kevin Evans and David George (Nedbank360Life) to auction the jerseys. Their sponsor, Nedbank360Life, bought into the idea and doubled the amount. An additional R61 000 will be distributed among the schools that helped during last year’s Cape Pioneer Trek.