Want more behind the scenes info for the upcoming JUMA (Hollard's Joburg Urban MTB Adventure)? I sat down with Russell Willis for a quick chit chat about the race, the philosophy of the event - and his view on Spruit Lions. Enjoy! We'll release this publicly in a few days - but HUBbers get it early --Andy Chatting to Russell Willis, one of the brains behind the first Hollard JUMA event… What is the JUMA? Juma, jumaaaa. Sounds lyrical. The Hollard Joburg Urban Mountain Bike Adventure! Well. All I can tell you is that it's NOT just another mountain bike race. We set out from the beginning to be different, to really break the mould. There’s often a problem with Joburg based mountain bike riding - people have to get in their cars and travel 30/40km to get to a race, do the race, then get in their cars and come back. We wanted to bring Joburg riders a different kind of race - straight in the heart of Joburg. With our city being the biggest urban forest in the world, we saw a great opportunity to collaborate with City Parks and the JHB Zoo. We wanted to rediscover the beautiful parks Joburg has - most of which have been forgotten. Most people don’t know how amazing some of the natural areas are. They’re just not used anymore. Alongside City Parks and the JHB Zoo, we’ve also been working with Nardus van Vuuren from Johannesburg Scaffolding. He’s building 15 ramps in an out of storm water drains and 2 scaffolding bridges over Rivonia Road and Oxford Road. That’s 40 tons of scaffolding equipment! We’re going to cycle OVER Rivonia Road? Yes. On a scaffolding bridge! Eish. Ok. Carry on… We’ve also got the Gauteng Offroad Club involved. They’re an Offroad Motocross Club. Been helping us build the course, clearing debris, branches and more importantly marking the route. You know… just finding the route between the parks and all the crazy obstacles an urban setting throws at you was an adventure. So riding it is going to be a REAL adventure. The JUMA has been over a year in planning. We’ve got a water bridge, a disco tunnel and a whole bunch of surprises planned! Who's in the team? Name: Mark Castell. Role: Founder & Visionary. Rides: Merida 29er Proudest MTB Achievement: Riding down the water stairs on the Hollard JUMA route. Quotable Quote: “This is doable.” Name: Russell Willis. Role: Founder, Visionary & TV Personality Rides: Yeti 29er. Proudest MTB Achievement: Riding down the water stairs on the Hollard JUMA route Quotable Quote: “I tried to hire a lion… you know how hard it is to hire a lion in South Africa?” Name: Neil Evans Role: Technical Mountain Biking Brain & Course Designer Rides: Scott Scale Hard Tail Proudest MTB Achievement: Learning to bunny hop with flat pedals! Quotable Quote: “I can like, manual down these stairs, and you can take a photo, right?” … and plenty of amazing people on the work crews. Couldn’t do it without them. We’re going to ignore the lion and the manual. We’ll read the manual later. So tell us… Aside from these fabled "water stairs", what's the coolest thing riders are going to experience on race day? We tried to hire a lion Back to the lion. Really?! We really tried to hire a lion. Wanted to put him in the bushy part of the Bryanston / Morningside section. Not, like in the bush, in a cage. Can you believe you can’t hire lion in South Africa?! I couldn’t. But then I thought it probably wasn’t the best idea. Not only would our riders get scared, but lions probably shouldn’t be on the Spruit. Thought we’d leave the lions to the experts at JHB Zoo. So we’re settling for loudspeakers! Grrrrrowwwrrl! That says a lot about what kind of experience you’re putting together... OK. So the real highlight? A 700m underground tunnel, going under a road in Greenside and coming out at Zoo Lake! How many mountain bikers have been underground? Seriously. There may be zombies. Is it going to smell? The tunnel, not the zombies. Tunnels in Jozi? Not nca, bra. No! Smells perfectly fine! OK. Tell us about this water bridge… Lots of MTB courses are adding water bridges these days. They build them out of product called Candock. We’re going across the Emmarentia dam! But don’t worry. It’ll be wide. And we’ve got rescue divers! How wide? 3 to 3.5m wide That may be wide enough. Go on… There will be a chicken run as well - but both the 22km and 52km rides are going to have an opportunity to cross the bridge. How are riders going to keep their Strava running iPhones dry if they fall off and get a hug from the rescue divers Remember, this isn’t just a normal mountain bike race. Take precautions! How many entries left? Over 3000 have already entered. 2000 left. Go register! Quick! www.juma.co.za And feel free to come ask us questions on #HollardJUMA - we’ll scan the hash tag to interact with fans. Tell us about the rejuvenation aspects of the project This is one of the most rewarding parts of the project. We’re upgrading many of the bridges and paths on the Braamfontein Spruit. Hoping to make Joburgers proud of the Spruit again. We’re employing homeless people along the route to help with cleaning up - they’ve been amazing. We’ve even got the First Bryanston Scout Group involved. It’s a real community effort! Why Hollard as a sponsor? You know. We planned this event over a year ago. We were sitting in the AdReach offices (they’ve also been amazing supporters) brainstorming just how big and unique we could make this. Hollard’s name came up as a potential sponsor. Couple of other companies as well. We just liked Hollard because they’re just different. They’re interesting. They’re not run of the mill. We’re building something which is “not another MTB race". They’re not another insurance company. Been great working with them. They’ve challenged us. Final question. What’s your grand vision for MTBing in Joburg? You know, Joburg isn’t just about the Braamfontein Spruit. The Spruit is amazing, one of few of that kind of length in the world. But Joburg also has these amazing parks, parks that can be connected by MTB trails. We want this to become the biggest urban MTB race in the world. It may actually be already. This is a vehicle for us to get people out there! Explore the uncharted areas. If you don’t present an area to the community - it goes to ruin. The JUMA is a presentation. Let’s use the land and enjoy it! Thanks Russell. See you on the water stairs! Haha! Thanks.
