Events

Tour of Homewood to put George on the MTB map

· By Press Office · 9 comments

The Garden Route town of George will be transformed into a significant mountain biking destination with the introduction of the Tour of Homewood, a new three-day mountain bike stage race, to be based at Fancourt, South Africa’s premier golf resort from 4-6 September 2015.

Homewood is the previous name of the colonial estate (1879–1903) on which Fancourt has been developed, representing old-world charm and everything fine, including accommodation, food and outdoor experiences at the foot of the majestic Outeniqua Mountains.

The Tour of Homewood includes three stages with distances ranging from 70-80km per day with around 1400m of vertical ascent per stage on average. Each stage will start and finish at Fancourt where special Tour of Homewood accommodation packages will be made available. There will also be external accommodation options available.

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Participants at the Tour of Homewood will experience three days of challenging mountain biking in an incredibly beautiful region of South Africa.

“There is great mountain biking around the town of George, but there is no annual mountain bike event there that makes the most of this. We feel that the Tour of Homewood will help develop George as a quality mountain biking destination in a way that Fancourt has done with golf,” said Henco Rademeyer of Dryland Event Management, the company that organises some of South Africa’s leading mountain biking and trail running events.

“Instead of driving a wedge between golf and mountain biking, we’re aiming to make the most of the strengths of the two sports as many people enjoy both. While we’ll be making use of the walkways around the links for the mountain bike stage exits and entrances to and from Fancourt, the actual race stages will be tough, yet fun. It’s a proper mountain bike stage race with a golf flavour for those that love both.

“There will be two coastal stages and one stage that will head into the Karoo and back. We plan to incorporate the famous Montagu Pass and the abundance of great singletrack around Saasveld and Jonkersberg,” added Rademeyer.

Each afternoon there will be a short golf challenge for those Tour of Homewood participants keen to experience playing on the world-renowned courses. This will be optional but there will be daily prizes and an overall prize for the best mountain bike and golf performance combined.

“The profile of the committed mountain biker today is the same as those who played golf here 10 years ago. The growth of mountain biking, trail running and hiking has given people more to do with more family involvement. We like this and feel the Tour of Homewood is a great way to give mountain bikers a first class experience with their families and friends,” said Lloyd Martindale, General Manager Golf at Fancourt.

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Fancourt, South Africa’s premier golf resort, will be the venue for the Tour of Homewood, a new three-day mountain bike stage race that will be held from 4-6 September 2015.

“While the Tour of Homewood is a serious mountain bike race, we’ll be making sure the bit of daily golf flavour is fun and all-inclusive. Come race the Tour of Homewood, but bring your clubs for some additional Fancourt fun!”

Entries will be via invitation. All those on the Fancourt and Dryland Event Management databases will receive an emailed invitation. There are also corporate packages available that include flights, transport and Fancourt accommodation to and from Johannesburg.

“What better than to leave the busy city life of Johannesburg on a Thursday and be flown to and from George with five-star accommodation at Fancourt for three days of high quality mountain bike racing?” remarked Rademeyer.

For more information visit www.tourofhomewood.co.za.

Comments

cat-i

May 12, 2015, 1:49 PM

Was very excited when I read this - learnt to mountainbike in George many many years ago, and would have loved to see some of the old trails again. In my mind it always was a significant mountain biking destination.

 

The entry fee of R8900 per team for 3 days of riding without accommodation is probably very much on par with what other events (wines2whales, sani2c?) are charging.  The days of doing 2 or 3 stage races per year are over - as are the days of using one stage race to train for the next one. Very sadly I'm not the target market anymore :( 

 

When did mountainbiking became such an exclusive sport?

NelAndre

May 12, 2015, 1:59 PM

Was very excited when I read this - learnt to mountainbike in George many many years ago, and would have loved to see some of the old trails again. In my mind it always was a significant mountain biking destination.

 

The entry fee of R8900 per team for 3 days of riding without accommodation is probably very much on par with what other events (wines2whales, sani2c?) are charging.  The days of doing 2 or 3 stage races per year are over - as are the days of using one stage race to train for the next one. Very sadly I'm not the target market anymore :(

 

When did mountainbiking became such an exclusive sport?

Yip, I am not the target market anymore either...........

KarlvN

May 12, 2015, 2:11 PM

Used to live in George, before moving to Cape Town. No ways I will pay R8900.00 for three days of mainly gravel and little single track, but that's just me... Still, the scenery is absolutely stunning, and it would be a great once off. But before I pay that I would just go visit the family and ride the area with some locals...

 

[edit] - Besides, I suspect a large portion of the fees are for the golf... :ph34r: Having played Fancourt, and KNOWING that it is not cheap... :whistling:

SpaceInvader

May 12, 2015, 3:39 PM

I love the idea of a new stage race in that area, but feel that the price for a standard entry is excessive, considering it does not include breakfast or accommodation. To me, part of the appeal of stage racing is the atmosphere of the race village which is lost when participants disperse to different accommodation locations after each stage.

I too am clearly not the target market for this race

Mtbfun

May 12, 2015, 8:32 PM

Starting to get a bit hacked off with the number of stage races on the calendar who charge these entry fees. R4 900 for a solo rider without accommodation is hard to swallow when there are fantastic trails in the area you can ride for free.

Eugene

May 13, 2015, 3:55 AM

I did a 2day stage race in George in 2000. The entry fee was probably less than R200 back then. I know that currency in SA has lost a lot of ground since then, but have to admit paying R4 900 is hard to swallow.

Swart Kat

May 13, 2015, 5:01 AM

Tooooo expensive!!! There was a 3 day stage race now in April in Worcster and entry for the team at R4 400.00, half of this one, with lots and lots of single track. Thanks, but no thanks......

J∆kk∆ls

May 13, 2015, 9:16 AM

For that kind of money you could arrange your very own 2-3 day cycle tour somewhere in South Africa and feel like a sheep herded in one direction! 

Shebeen

May 13, 2015, 9:41 AM

  :w00t: i thought a failed EPO test put George permanently on the radar  :w00t:

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