Entries for the 2027 KAP sani2c are open, and while the event itself is nearly a year away, the riders who enjoy their best sani2c experience are the ones who start preparing long before they roll onto the start line. Whether your goal is to improve on a previous performance, conquer a route you’ve always dreamed of riding, or to feel the thrill of completing one of South Africa’s most iconic mountain bike rides, the decision to enter now is the first step towards making 2027 your best sani2c yet.
Paid partnership with KAP sani2c
For many riders, entering sani2c is about much more than securing a race number. It creates a goal. It provides motivation through winter training rides, spring fitness sessions and the countless small decisions that ultimately determine how enjoyable race week will be.
“Once you’ve entered and committed, a switch flips in your brain. Your psyche changes because you’ve now entered, you’ve committed, and you know you need to get the training done. That’s a big part of sani2c, I think,” says ‘Farmer’ Glen Haw, sani2c founder and a man who has himself completed 39 Dusi Canoe Marathons, countless mountain bike races including four ABSA Cape Epics, and ten Comrades Marathons. He gets it.
Know what you are training for
Of course, much of the motivation to prepare comes from knowing what awaits on the route itself. For more than two decades, sani2c has built a reputation for delivering some of the finest mountain biking trails in South Africa, from flowing singletrack and forest trails to spectacular valley views and purpose-built sections of trail, the route offers an experience that continues to draw riders back year after year.
Few sections capture that magic quite like the descent into the Umkomaas Valley. Among South African mountain bikers, it has become one of those bucket-list trails that everyone should experience at least once. Yet the remarkable thing about sani2c is that once is rarely enough.
sani2c is about more than kilometres on the bike and finish times. It is the partnerships formed on the trail, overcoming challenges together, the shared experience of spectacular scenery and the sense of accomplishment that comes from completing a really tough journey from the foothills of the Drakensberg to the KwaZulu-Natal coast. It is a race, but it is also an adventure. And for many participants, it becomes an annual tradition.
Flavio Scarpa lived most of his life in the Umkomaas area, not far from the Scottburgh finish of sani2c. He entered the first sani2c in 2005 and has never missed the event, despite his move to Italy in 2023.
“I keep coming back. I would have serious FOMO if I was sitting in Italy! I can’t fault anything with the race. It’s the people, the food, and the course, which was sublime again this year. It doesn’t get easier every year, it is starting to get harder for me. But the race keeps me fit, it keeps me young, because you do the race and then time goes by so quickly before you need to start training again, and then you’re back! As long as I can ride, I will be back.”
The KAP sani2c experience
With entries for 2027 now open, riders have a unique opportunity to start building towards the ride of their life. Whether you’re aiming to ride faster, ride stronger, conquer a new challenge or simply enjoy every moment of the riding, the work starts now.
As Glen Haw says: “People aspire to do hard things, and sani2c is a hard thing. It’s not your average bike ride. It’s purposely made to be hard so that you have to train to do well and feel satisfied at the finish. If you’re going to ride sani2c and you enter early, you get the full experience of joining a training programme, going out and doing a lot of rides, becoming super fit, and then having that satisfaction of really achieving something.
“Personally, I’ve always enjoyed endurance sports because of that. You enter an event like sani2c or Comrades, and there are months of build-up. Because of your growing fitness, you feel good about yourself, you get into a good routine, you’re disciplined, and all of that comes with a lot of benefits that spill over into life and work. It doesn’t matter how you’re feeling or whether the weather is bad. You know you’re committed, so you get out there and do what you need to do.”
Committing early and training with purpose
One of the reasons sani2c continues to attract thousands of riders every year is that success means very different things to different people. For some, it is a podium finish. For others, it is achieving a personal best. For many, it is simply crossing the finish line knowing they have tackled one of the country’s most celebrated mountain biking experiences.
Fitness matters, but so do technical skills, nutrition, bike setup, recovery and consistency. The event rewards preparation. Riders who arrive ready to tackle the climbs, face the descents with confidence and remain comfortable on long days in the saddle, simply get more from the experience.
Amanda Twyman started riding with the Trail Angels in Cape Town and started doing stage races a few years ago. She says of her first sani2c experience: “Jo [Thomas] and I were excited about sani2c for a long time before we got there. Every person we spoke to said, ‘It’s the best ride ever – you’re going to love it.’ At the same time, people warned us that you need to put in the training because it is tough. There may be lots of descending, but there’s also plenty of climbing and you need to be prepared.”
We were actually surprised by how challenging some sections were, but because we’d done the preparation we knew we were ready. We’d read about the route, studied it and understood what was coming. The Trail Angels rides and camaraderie were a huge part of that journey – having a supportive community around you makes all the difference when you’re working towards a goal like sani2c.”
A pathway into stage racing: Sani Seeker
For riders new to stage racing, the inaugural Sani Seeker from 19-20 September 2026 is an ideal introduction to the format, an accessible way into multi-day mountain biking. The event is set to provide a platform for young riders to gain experience in competitive stage racing. Based at Glencairn Farm, the KAP sani2c start venue in the southern Drakensberg, two 50 km days of riding on purpose-built trails that were established for the KAP sani2c Prologue when it became a UCI sanctioned event in 2024.
The Ultimate Endurance ride: sani2c nonstop
For others who are looking for the ultimate challenge, sani2c nonstop delivers one of South Africa’s most demanding endurance events. Covering most of the iconic three-day sani2c route in a single push, it combines night riding, navigation, teamwork, technical trails and endurance in a unique mountain biking adventure. It is emphatically not a gravel race, but rather a true mountain bike challenge that showcases many of the legendary trails that have made sani2c famous. The 2027sani2c nonstop is set for 28-30 May.
Whichever journey you choose, 2027 promises another opportunity to experience the ride of a lifetime.
Enter the 2027 KAP sani2c and conquer the Iconic Climb!
KAP sani2c Adventure: Wednesday 6 May to Friday 8 May
KAP sani2c ‘OG’: Thursday 7 May to Saturday 9 May (with UCI Prologue 6 May)
Follow KAP sani2c on social media:
Instagram:@_sani2c
Facebook: sani2c
Twitter: @_sani2c
Paid partnership with KAP sani2c
Photos by Anthony Grote, Kelvin Trautman, Maryann Shaw and Action Photo SA
Source: Maryann Shaw Communications
