There are more than 400 events on the South African mountain biking calendar each year. That’s an average of almost eight a week! Quite something. We’re very fortunate to live in a country with such a range of events. Based on our recent survey and despite their dropping numbers, these are the most popular type of events.
By Sean Badenhorst
Our annual South African Mountain Biking Survey, presented by Garmin, asks a total of 70 questions to find out more about the South African mountain biker and his/her preferences and riding/racing patterns. One of the questions is: ‘What type of mountain bike races/events do you participate in mostly (you can choose more than one)?’
We created these categories based partly on international standards and partly on our own experience of South African events. The list pretty much covers every type of mountain bike racing discipline/distance and, from 2022, has also included the relatively new discipline of Gravel.
Here’s a snapshot of the answers of the past five years:
The most popular type of event is Marathons (50-90km). This has been the case in all five years of our survey. And no doubt also the 15 years or so before our survey. Endurance mountain bike races have always attracted the bigger numbers and Marathons are just long enough to be tough and challenging, but short enough to complete in around half a day.
While marathons are still the most popular type of event, they’re not as popular as they were 10 years ago when events like Sabie Classic would attract around 3 000 entrants, with other marathons getting 1500-2500 entries without too much difficulty. There are still a handful of marathons that attract more than 1000 riders these days, but not many.
Although the most popular in 2024, Marathons scored their lowest in the five years of our survey. The 47.80% figure has dropped from its highest of 51.97% in 2022. The average for this discipline over the five years is 49.80%. Note: Although this shows as a percentage figure, it’s not a true percentage of 100 because we allow survey takers to select more than one option.
Not surprisingly, Half-marathons are in the top three most favoured race disciplines of South African mountain bikers. While they generally are held at a marathon event, just on a shorter course, Half-marathons usually attract bigger numbers than Marathons. Half-marathons are really important for the growth of mountain biking. They offer a race experience without demanding too much from the entrants. They’re also ideal for youngsters and ageing racing for whom the Marathons are too taxing.
What is a bit concerning with Half-marathons is the steady drop in popularity over the past five years. From 41.59% in 2020 to 32.70% in 2024. Although the drop from 2023 to 2024 was quite small, as an industry, we can’t afford to let this decline continue because the Half-marathon is the ‘nursery’ distance/event for mountain biking.
Short Stage Races is the other top-three discipline in terms of popularity. This is to be expected since stage races are essentially a series of marathons in succession and South Africa has some of the best quality Short Stage Races in the world.
There was a time, also around a decade ago, when there were more than 60 Short Stage Races on the South African mountain biking calendar. Incredible! That number is around 25 now and entries are reasonably easy to come by, even close to the event date. At their peak, you had to enter early to guarantee a spot in most short South African mountain bike stage races.
As with Marathons and Half-marathons, the Short Stage Races percentage was its lowest in 2024 – 33.28% from a peak of 39.28%. The decline in all three correlates partially to the last option on this table, which shows an increase of just over 3% of survey takers that say they ‘don’t do races/events’ and to the other events/race related question in our annual survey: ‘How often would you say you participate in a MTB race – on average – in a year?’
As you can see, over five years there has been a shift. In 2020, 75.93% said they do a race six or fewer times a year and that figure in 2024 was up to 81.24%. Just over 5% fewer in five years. In 2020, 24.07% said they do a race at least once a month with that number dropping to 18.76% in 2024. Just over 6% fewer in five years.
The reasons for this are likely multiple, including the accessibility of trails parks (you don’t have to enter a race to do a safe, marked ride), a tougher economy, racing fatigue, crazy new-bike prices, a generational shift and competition with other trendy activities like trail running, crossfit and padel.
The good news is that we still have a very robust racing culture in South Africa. It may not be what it once was in terms of numbers, but there are still thousands that are committed to racing Marathons, Half-marathons and Short Stage Races, the types of events that remain the foundation of the sport in this country.
Introduction image: Momentum Medical Scheme Tankwa Trek, presented by Biogen | Photo: Oakpics
