Organisers of next weekend’s Liberty Waterberg Encounter are fully focused on providing the entrants with a race to remember in the heart of the South African bushveld.<\/p>\n
The three-day mountain bike event at Bela Bela in Limpopo, presented by STANLIB, takes place from June 8 to 10, capitalising on a period when there are not that many races on the South African calendar.<\/p>\n
The Waterberg is the third leg of the Encounter series, which includes the TransCape and the Winelands, held earlier this year.<\/p>\n
Now it is the turn of those based in the northern provinces to experience a luxurious offering, with a typical bushveld outing on the bike and five-star accommodation available at Elements Private Golf Reserve and Sondela Nature Reserve.<\/p>\n
ASG Events acting chief executive Fritz Pienaar emphasised that this was a perfect opportunity for a wide range of cyclists to compete in a top-quality stage mountain-bike race.<\/p>\n
“There is an element of luxury in the overall package and it provides a great opportunity for riders of all levels to get the feel of a stage race,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It is the perfect platform for those in the corporate world to do some team-building or to entertain clients.<\/p>\n
“The three days provide a chance for everyone to mingle in a relaxed environment while enjoying top-class accommodation with heated blankets, good food and a great vibe.”<\/p>\n
In addition, Pienaar said the distances of each leg, which overall cover 162km, were manageable, even for those who might not be that experienced.<\/p>\n
“Events like the Winelands and the Waterberg are great opportunities for first-time riders to experience what a stage race is like.<\/p>\n
“The distances are not too hectic – around 60km a day – and they will ride on some of the most amazing trails in the area.”<\/p>\n
As was the case last year, the event will have two race villages, with stopovers at Sondela and Elements Golf Estate.<\/p>\n
This has made the whole event a bit more compact and Pienaar said they felt they could provide an even purer mountain-biking experience for the participants.<\/p>\n
The route encompasses some of the best features and local hospitality in the area, with scenic riding over the contoured terrain offered by the Waterberg.<\/p>\n
“Riders can expect wide open plains, strong contoured climbing challenges, deep ravines and fabulous cliff edges, indigenous forests and spectacular views,” he added.<\/p>\n
“The route is characterised by riveting jeep tracks, challenging rocky outcrops, fast-flowing downhills, meandering river crossings and stunning single-track.”<\/p>\n
Go to www.waterbergencounter.co.za to enter or for more information.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Organisers of next weekend’s Liberty Waterberg Encounter are fully focused on providing the entrants with a race to remember in the heart of the South African bushveld. The three-day mountain bike event at Bela Bela in Limpopo, presented by STANLIB, takes place from June 8 to 10, capitalising on a period when there are not […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":58746,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"tdm_status":"","tdm_grid_status":"","fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[3260,3],"tags":[1743,2594,2964,1757,2384,2597],"class_list":["post-18918","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","category-more-sport","tag-asg-events","tag-liberty-waterberg-encounter","tag-mountain-bike-event","tag-mountain-biking","tag-stanlib","tag-waterberg-encounter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18918","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18918"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18918\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}