National MTB Series Bids Ashburton Investments a Fond Farewell

The National MTB Series bids farewell to its title sponsor of three years, Ashburton Investments. The three-year sponsorship with Ashburton Investments has seen a period of change and refinement to one of the world’s largest and most prestigious mountain bike racing series.

“Ashburton Investments has been a fantastic sponsor. It’s been more of a partnership because the people that we have worked closely with have been as passionate about the series as we are,” said Fritz Pienaar, Director of Advendurance.

“This three-year period has seen the most changes in the National MTB Series since we launched it back in 2003. The sport of mountain biking has evolved and continues to evolve and it’s great to be able to adapt to those changes and offer mountain bikers throughout South Africa a series of world class, stimulating events at incredible locations,” added Pienaar.

Ashburton Investments also ramped up the prize money offering for the top women category to equal that of the men. This, after the series owners and organisers, Advendurance had already upped the TV exposure for the women in 2016 with support from Ashburton Investments as well as boosting the men’s prize purse to be of international standard.

Most notably, the structure of the series changed this year from largely single-day events to a two-day format. The switch from ultra-marathons to two-day marathons for the elite and under 23 men proved to be a huge success and delivered exciting racing right down to the final event.

Five of the seven rounds in 2017 included the new two-day race format, which ensured that not only the racing was more competitive, but that it was more forgiving in that a rider that suffered a major mechanical problem in one or even two events, could still be in series contention.

It gave South African mountain bikers access to more, to experience a multi-day event at a very reasonable cost and boosted entry numbers among most of the racing categories.

The new two-day format has also encouraged weekends away for families, friends and clubs, significantly boosting economies of small towns during a tough economic period.

From a mountain biking perspective, the Ashburton Investments Series saw the generation of trail legacies. Advendurance, a company run by passionate mountain bikers, has been proactively building sections of new mountain bike trail at most of the Series event locations, helping boost the appeal of mountain bikers revisiting venues outside of the race weekends to enjoy the new riding opportunities.

The 2017 Ashburton Investments National MTB Series visited Grabouw in the Western Cape, Van Gaalen in the North West, Champagne Valley in KwaZulu-Natal, Clarence in the Free State and Dullstroom, Sabie and Kaapsehoop in Mpumalanga.

“We are looking for a new title sponsor of the National MTB Series for 2018 and beyond. In corporate terms, the investment is surprisingly low with significant year-round returns. A title sponsor is now a necessity for us to be able to continue to hold the series at the standard the mountain bike market has become accustomed to, so we are hoping we can secure one soon,” added Pienaar.

Matthys Beukes of Pyga Eurosteel and Candice Lill of Team Dormakaba are the 2017 Ashburton Investments men and women’s marathon series champions. Both only secured their titles at the final event in October after a thrilling battle with several rivals.

The half-marathon series continues to provide youth and junior category participants with a fantastic racing platform. Marc Oliver Pritzen and Danielle Strydom are the 2017 male and female series champions respectively.

2017 Ashburton Investments National MTB Series

Leading overall results

Marathon – Men

1 Matthys Beukes (Pyga Eurosteel) 27549

2 Philip Buys (Pyga Eurosteel) 26900

3 Nico Bell (Team NAD Pro) 25933

4 Gert Heyns (Ascendis Health) 25361

5 Gawie Combrinck (Team NAD Pro) 24162

6 Wessel Botha 23616

7 Waylon Woolcock (Team BCX) 23581

8 Max Knox (New Holland) 22552

9 Declan Sidey 22550

10 Dylan Rebello (Imbuko Momsen) 20795

Marathon – Women

1 Candice Lill (Dormakaba) 27499

2 Robyn De Groot (Ascendis Health) 27139

3 Vanessa Bell (Bells Cycling) 22848

4 Sarah Hill (Liv Cycling) 22720

5 Yolandi du Toit (Garmin Merida) 21326

6 Melanie Roux 19119

7 Samantha Sanders (Valencia) 18755

8 Amy Beth McDougall (Valencia) 18739

9 Julia Kotze 18459

10 Janice Venter 17977

Leading overall results

Half-Marathon – Women

1 Marc Oliver Pritzen 27574