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SWARTBERG 100
It has been a fantastic 9 years of hosting the Swartberg 100 Gran Fondo in our beautiful town of Prince Albert.
In 2016 we launched South Africa’s first dedicated gravel bike race, we chose the slogan “Choose your Weapon!” which seems to have caught on in SA’s cycling world. We wanted all-comers on any bikes, knowing that eventually gravel bikes would dominate the race format and route. We let it naturally evolve, and it’s been a wonderful experience to see the racing fraternity go from “What’s a gravel bike?” to long discussions on tyre size and gearing on the myriad of gravel bikes available in the market today.
We have had to re-evaluate our focus and available time on all the projects we have going in the MTBAfrica Events company. There is the return on investment in time and money but more importantly there is the opportunity cost to consider.
Our GravelGrinder Tours are hugely successful, they are “Cycling, social and culinary adventures” involving 3 days of 60km per day in SA’s prettiest Karoo towns, enjoying the best cycling routes in the area, the local cuisine in top notch restaurants and a vast array of the best of South African wines to choose from at all the meals. We run 12 to 14 of these per annum.
We have recently launched the KarooRak, a bicycle rack we can proudly say is South Africa’s toughest and most functional bike rack. It has been tested for more than 4 years transporting our customer’s bikes on tour, we have considered every frustration and shortfall of bike racks on the market today. We believe we have a winner.
Given our current commitments, it is with a heavy heart that we have to announce the end of the Swartberg 100 Gran Fondo and Medio Fondo, we thank you for all your support in the past, it’s been a great journey.
Yours Sincerely
John Swanepoel - Race Director and Chief Domestique
In 2016 we launched South Africa’s first dedicated gravel bike race, we chose the slogan “Choose your Weapon!” which seems to have caught on in SA’s cycling world. We wanted all-comers on any bikes, knowing that eventually gravel bikes would dominate the race format and route. We let it naturally evolve, and it’s been a wonderful experience to see the racing fraternity go from “What’s a gravel bike?” to long discussions on tyre size and gearing on the myriad of gravel bikes available in the market today.
We have had to re-evaluate our focus and available time on all the projects we have going in the MTBAfrica Events company. There is the return on investment in time and money but more importantly there is the opportunity cost to consider.
Our GravelGrinder Tours are hugely successful, they are “Cycling, social and culinary adventures” involving 3 days of 60km per day in SA’s prettiest Karoo towns, enjoying the best cycling routes in the area, the local cuisine in top notch restaurants and a vast array of the best of South African wines to choose from at all the meals. We run 12 to 14 of these per annum.
We have recently launched the KarooRak, a bicycle rack we can proudly say is South Africa’s toughest and most functional bike rack. It has been tested for more than 4 years transporting our customer’s bikes on tour, we have considered every frustration and shortfall of bike racks on the market today. We believe we have a winner.
Given our current commitments, it is with a heavy heart that we have to announce the end of the Swartberg 100 Gran Fondo and Medio Fondo, we thank you for all your support in the past, it’s been a great journey.
Yours Sincerely
John Swanepoel - Race Director and Chief Domestique
Valtteri Bottas and Tiffany Cromwell joined us at the 2024 Grand Finale.
Thank you to our Sponsors.
