The Liberty Waterberg MTB Encounter offered more than just three days of racing in the bushveld – it provided a valuable lifestyle experience, said prominent Johannesburg businessman Tjaart Kruger.<\/p>\n
The mountain-bike event, presented by STANLIB, took place near Bela-Bela in Limpopo and ended at the Sondela Nature Reserve yesterday.<\/p>\n
Kruger, chief executive officer of Premier Foods, was just one of a number of corporate personalities who took the chance to test themselves in the weekend’s challenge.<\/p>\n
“We are always looking for good mountain-bike stage races to do and we thought the Waterberg was the perfect fit,” said Kruger, who participated in the event for the first time this year.<\/p>\n
“It was very nice and social. We were able to mingle with many people during the weekend, especially in the evenings after each stage.<\/p>\n
“Then there was some great riding. I am not trying to be a professional mountain-biker, but we enjoyed the technical rides through the mountains, as well as some endurance effort throughout.<\/p>\n
“It was something new to experience and I got to enjoy it all with my colleagues and friends.”<\/p>\n
The race comprised a total 172km with 2 774 metres of ascent over the three days. The popular Sondela reserve, as well as the Elements Private Golf Estate, helped to revive riders’ spirits after each stage.<\/p>\n
“It was a wonderful experience,” Kruger said. “It was not too long, but it was technical and difficult enough to make it a rewarding race.<\/p>\n
“The organisation was excellent, the routes were very well marked and the water points were great. Before and after each stage we always knew what was going on.”<\/p>\n
As a corporate based in Midrand, Johannesburg – the business hub of South Africa – Kruger said he would recommend the race as a liberating escape from the pressures of work.<\/p>\n
“It is only an hour-and-a-half away from Johannesburg, which makes it very convenient.<\/p>\n
“At Premier we try to drive a sense of culture by adopting a very healthy lifestyle, while also socialising and having fun.<\/p>\n
“It is not about just being formal at work, but also about becoming friends with one another and participating together in outdoor sport.<\/p>\n
“Stage races such as the Waterberg are ideal for the culture we are trying to implement in the work place.<\/p>\n
“There are probably about 15 to 20 of us at work who are actually good friends from cycling together so often.<\/p>\n
“We will definitely return for the Waterberg,” he added.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Liberty Waterberg MTB Encounter offered more than just three days of racing in the bushveld – it provided a valuable lifestyle experience, said prominent Johannesburg businessman Tjaart Kruger. The mountain-bike event, presented by STANLIB, took place near Bela-Bela in Limpopo and ended at the Sondela Nature Reserve yesterday. Kruger, chief executive officer of Premier […]<\/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],"tags":[1743,2632,2594,3587,1757,1747,3588,2299],"class_list":["post-19325","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-asg-events","tag-liberty","tag-liberty-waterberg-encounter","tag-liberty-waterberg-mtb-encounter","tag-mountain-biking","tag-mtb","tag-tjaart-kruger","tag-waterberg-mtb-encounter"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19325","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=19325"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19325\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19325"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19325"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/southafricatoday.net\/sport\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19325"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}