Ashburton Investments National MTB Series 2015 dates and venues announced

Following the announcement that Ashburton Investments have become the new headline sponsor for the world’s largest marathon mountain biking series the question on everyone’s lips was what are the dates and venues for 2015?

The Ashburton Investments National MTB Series will be even more compact for the 2015 season with 7 events covering 6 provinces over 8 months. The big news is that the Van Gaalen event will double as South African National Marathon Championships and the Clarens and Sabie events will once more be part of the UCI World Marathon Series.

Two new venues have also been added to the 2015 Ashburton Investments National MTB Series with the addition of the season opener at Meerendal that also boasts UCI Category3 status. The Ballito event will take the series to hills of KwaZulu Natal’s North coast.

The series’ popularity both nationally and internationally lies in its diversity. It showcases South Africa’s unique terrain diversity offering competitors a mix of African bushveld, wine lands, lowveld mountains, highlands and coastal regions, covering some of the most scenic and spectacular icons the country has to offer.

The event is broken down into the following racing categories and distances:

• Ashburton Investments Ultra Marathon – elite men
• Ashburton Investments Marathon – elite women and under 23
• Ashburton Investments Half Marathon – junior men and women

Fritz Pienaar from Advendurance is quick to point out that the series is not only about the hard core racing and caters for weekend warriors and beginners as well. “Most of our events take place over two days making a fun and cheaper alternative to stage racing with the added benefit of being able to bring the family to take part” Pienaar added. The 20km fun race and the 10km fun ride are firm favourites with the family orientated mountain bikers according to Pienaar. “We’ve seen so many people make a weekend of our events racing the Saturday and then riding with the rest of the family on the Sunday” said Pienaar.