The Sondela Dissapointment

[Karooryder]

I'm not one to rant on about races, especially MTB events – ultimately we do crazy stunts, enter tight races and prefer anything but the beaten track because these are the things that make our sport so exhilaratingly fun but also equally tough. However, when a lack of planning and bad route design turns excitement and bone wrenching endurance to frustration and dismay, something should be said about the basics of setting out a technically challenging, yet smooth and effective event. Not so, Sondela?

 

I entered for the 80km, and besides for the absence of now almost event-standard goodie bags (sorry, I know this sounds trivial but for me the devil is always in the detail :-) ) I was very excited about doing the race as I was looking to get some hard-core longer-distance fitness training under the saddle. Having spoken to other riders I prepared myself for a sandy but flat route which I could look at completing in more or less 4 hours. We all started well but, approaching the first sand pit the race quickly turned sour as some of the less-experienced riders preferred to walk the calf-deep sand patches, resulting in huge bottle necks and less than polite comments from some of the riders. I suppose this is to be expected when starting in unseeded batches, or not starting in any batch at all – but there will always be overly competitive (read: asshole) riders who will have no consideration for this. Finally navigating the sandstorm, things did not get better as we hit a maze of poorly designed switch-back single tracks right after the first water point. One could not help but wonder if those setting out the track sought the easiest and quickest way to make up distance for the event. After what seemed to be hours, the familiar and blissful regular Sondela single tracks appeared. Unfortunately bad turned to worse in the second 40km lap – especially in the now notorious first section where the path with occasional deep sand we had navigated the morning, had now been ridden to a continuous 12km long Sahara. One marshal said it well “Ek weet nie hoekom hulle julle hierdie *** pad laat ry nie, die quadbikes sit dan hier vas!”. In, what has by now become a familiar occurrence, 40km riders were harassing some of the “langasems” to get out of the way, not considering the technical difficulty of the track and the sand. Riding the switch-back maze all over again was torture and everywhere one sensed a negativity in riders battling to stay ahead of the chasing fresh legs of shorter distance competitors. The ASG finish line banner appeared only after 92km on my Polar and, where I would have been more than grateful for a few extra training miles at other race, I cursed every single km after the 80 mark at Sondela.

 

I assume many riders will have enjoyed the Sondela Classic but I also suspect that an equal amount of participants will have a mouthful to say about the bad and ill-judged planning of the routes. And sadly, here adventure sports is much like rugby where bad planning and management results in ill-discipline which in turn leads to inconsiderate and rude participant behaviour. As for me, I will probably not do this race again.

[Mojoman]

What was the entry fee for this?

[Karooryder]

What was the entry fee for this?

 

Hi Mojoman,

The entry for the 80km was R200.00 with a R50.00 penalty for late entries.

[Pieterg]

-1!!

[Pants Boy]

Sho, lots of angry comments all over facebroek as well. Seems peeps didn't dig the sand (or the waterpoints going home at 2)

[Rider On The Storm]

Couldn't agree more with this post - poorly layed out course, soft sand then ass crunching bumpy zig zag bush track - those of us with hard tails have eina back tails today! This will be crossed off our list for next year

[Karooryder]

Sho, lots of angry comments all over facebroek as well. Seems peeps didn't dig the sand (or the waterpoints going home at 2)

 

Bushcamp, luckily I finished before 2 but I spoke to quite a number of riders who were livid about marshals and waterpoints dissapearing at 2...not great.

[Grondpad]

I entered the race and booked camping at Sondela. After reading this, I am so happy I could not go.

 

I agree that a race should be about the route and everything else just adds to the experience, so if the route was as bad as you say then the whole event must leave a sour after taste.

 

Why would the waterpoints pack up after 2pm. Its actually the backmarkers that needs them most. Weird.

[Keep Pedaling]

Another thing. Waterpoint spacing on a 45km loops should be 15km, 25km, 35km.

 

Not 20km, 40km, 44km as was the case here.

[Keep Pedaling]

Yet another thing.

 

You need a better recovery system for injured riders. There are points where you intersect jeep track but there is no marker and phone number to tell the recovery vehicle/medics where to pick you up.

 

My wife's injured knee gave up at the 10km mark but she had to walk on it for another 10km to the 1st water point.

 

I also saw the medics have to run along long sections of single track to help injured riders and then carry them and their back a long way back. Also saw medics not knowing how far to go to the injured riders.

[Li Mu Bai]

sounds like fun. next time enter the Lionman, same area, better experience. (when the waterpoints dont hide route arrows that is haha)

[Li Mu Bai]

Another thing. Waterpoint spacing on a 45km loops should be 15km, 25km, 35km.

 

Not 20km, 40km, 44km as was the case here.

it all depends on difficulty of terrain (climbs), heat and time of year. a fast flowing race, no one will bother stopping at 15km so then 20km makes sense...

all in all it seems it wasnt properly thought through. Smaller events can = heartache

Edited July 9, 2012 by Li Mu Bai

[Rider On The Storm]

sounds like fun. next time enter the Lionman, same area, better experience. (when the waterpoints dont hide route arrows that is haha)

Agreed - we did the Lionman a few weeks ago & it was seriously well organised & a pleasure to ride, so we went to the Sondela with similar expectations - 2 more different races you couldnt find. I think that the lack of any elevation also makes it boring & we couldnt wait for the end, which the the extra km didnt help. Not again!

[ridr]

I'm very happy I didn't do a second lap - I realised the second lap wasn't going to be any better than the first, so relaxed by the pool with the family instead

 

Had a good weekend at Sondela. Hopefully they can improve the route for next year!