DieselnDust Posted January 11, 2022 Share It is not an easy 30km. Throw in a 7:30 am start and stellenbosch heat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohanDiv Posted January 12, 2022 Share Just entered for the 70km.. bit confused about the actual start time. Trailseeker website says 07:00, but on my ticket it shows "starts 06:00". Anyone know for certain the start times? Maybe registration and board collection starts 06:00 and the race 07:00? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bundu Ric Posted January 12, 2022 Share Usually when it gets closer to the day you will get an email / WhatsApp with your start batch and exact start time. JohanDiv 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohanDiv Posted January 26, 2022 Share Just got the start time email.. Batch C @ 06:45. Glad they made it early! Looks like +35°C again on Saturday.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisF Posted January 26, 2022 Share On 1/12/2022 at 11:59 AM, JohanDiv said: Just entered for the 70km.. bit confused about the actual start time. Trailseeker website says 07:00, but on my ticket it shows "starts 06:00". Anyone know for certain the start times? Maybe registration and board collection starts 06:00 and the race 07:00? The information sent to the schools states that "board collection starts at 6:00". Extract of what was sent to the schools - Edited January 26, 2022 by ChrisF JohanDiv 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamil Posted January 26, 2022 Share Start is at 6.30 as per Facebook and email newsletter. Changed from 7 because of "heatwave" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisF Posted January 26, 2022 Share 8 minutes ago, Mamil said: Start is at 6.30 as per Facebook and email newsletter. Changed from 7 because of "heatwave" Uhmmmm .... let's see if the schools gets a last second update .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stephan Posted January 31, 2022 Share I enjoyed the marathon race and explored trails that I've never been on. I will return for sure! My highlight was the Banhoek and Plaisir trails. It was also cool to see Jolanda Neff in action. She started 5mins behind the elite men's bunch and still finished 20th overall. Lowlight was encountering multiple young kids (<10 years old) on their small bikes, after all the routes merged at (I think) Boschendal trails. They were crying because they were scared of the technical terrain, alone and dehydrated. They should not have been on that route alone in the heat. ChrisF, Chainyank and Yyyy 2 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisF Posted January 31, 2022 Share 1 hour ago, Stephan said: I enjoyed the marathon race and explored trails that I've never been on. I will return for sure! My highlight was the Banhoek and Plaisir trails. It was also cool to see Jolanda Neff in action. She started 5mins behind the elite men's bunch and still finished 20th overall. Lowlight was encountering multiple young kids (<10 years old) on their small bikes, after all the routes merged at (I think) Boschendal trails. They were crying because they were scared of the technical terrain, alone and dehydrated. They should not have been on that route alone in the heat. Our school gave it a miss due to the weather.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mamil Posted January 31, 2022 Share 1 hour ago, Stephan said: I enjoyed the marathon race and explored trails that I've never been on. I will return for sure! My highlight was the Banhoek and Plaisir trails. It was also cool to see Jolanda Neff in action. She started 5mins behind the elite men's bunch and still finished 20th overall. Lowlight was encountering multiple young kids (<10 years old) on their small bikes, after all the routes merged at (I think) Boschendal trails. They were crying because they were scared of the technical terrain, alone and dehydrated. They should not have been on that route alone in the heat. I agree with this . Trails are great - those loose rocky climbs less entertaining. I had a bad race - couldn't eat and bonked badly - finished even lower down the pack than usual. Also came across little ones in that technical terrain by which point the temp on my garmin was 41 degrees. If that was my first experience of mtb it would put me off for life. Also was a bit chagrined to see that while there were extra water points and these were well stocked - I saw no medical personnel at any point on the trail. I really think there ought to have been a stronger presence in those conditions. There were a couple of the cow clad sweepers for the 30km event and they were kind to the little ones but .... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrcg Posted January 31, 2022 Share I also have ambiguous feelings from the race. My training was not up to standard but managed to pace myself well over the marathon distance, still enjoy myself (for 3/4 of race) and just shave the 4h mark. Great trails, as I remember them with a lot of improvements and added details. Top trails throughout. My BIG gripe, which I wanted to report directly to race org (but didn't want to search around in the heat so left it), is that it is ALWAYS a bad idea to merge the marathon and half-marathon on the run-in. Unless it's open terrain, dual track and non-technical. I really don't get it: this isn't the first event TS/Faces organised. What were they thinking? It was not cool, as it was way too technical in parts for the 40km riders, they struggled immensely and were a danger to others too. It also totally detracted the value for me as I enjoy my technical single track and go balls to the wall. To sit behind so many riders and lose out on fun, rhythm and time is just really crappy. Encountering most 40km riders (lots of young riders) that were totally out of their depth was not cool either. Can't speak about water points. Only stopped for quick fresh water. TS/Faces please re-organise!!! Seriously Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chainyank Posted February 2, 2022 Share The 20km can’t be classified a “fun ride” and could well have discouraged many newbies to ever enter an organised ride again. My wife struggled massively. Having done the Wellington trail seeker 20km in October, her first ever race, in 1h40min - this one took her 3h18min. The weather wasn’t too dissimilar The substantially more technical route of Banhoek, forced her to walk and scale many sections and also assisted distraught young kids battling through the course. The organiser’s ill-devised plan to converge the 20km course with the 40km and marathon course exasperated the misery for everyone. (An all to common oversight in MTB races) Kids were terrified and seasoned riders frustrated at being held up. It was impressively shrewd for some schools to foresee the heat issue and pulled their pupils from the race. Perhaps a cautionary message from organisers warning of the heat or placing additional water stops on route might have made the fun ride more manageable. Or cancel it because these are mostly complete novices falling, bruising and dehydrating through an experience they’ll never want again. Stephan and Trashy 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisF Posted February 2, 2022 Share 2 hours ago, Chainyank said: The 20km can’t be classified a “fun ride” and could well have discouraged many newbies to ever enter an organised ride again. My wife struggled massively. Having done the Wellington trail seeker 20km in October, her first ever race, in 1h40min - this one took her 3h18min. The weather wasn’t too dissimilar The substantially more technical route of Banhoek, forced her to walk and scale many sections and also assisted distraught young kids battling through the course. The organiser’s ill-devised plan to converge the 20km course with the 40km and marathon course exasperated the misery for everyone. (An all to common oversight in MTB races) Kids were terrified and seasoned riders frustrated at being held up. It was impressively shrewd for some schools to foresee the heat issue and pulled their pupils from the race. Perhaps a cautionary message from organisers warning of the heat or placing additional water stops on route might have made the fun ride more manageable. Or cancel it because these are mostly complete novices falling, bruising and dehydrating through an experience they’ll never want again. As a side thought .... This was only the second schools race in THREE YEARS .... there was huge excitement about the prospect of getting out and riding again. The things our school considered : - As a primary school our riders were used to very short races, typically less than 10km. And these were typically 2 or 3 laps of a short course. Once the leaders finished, the lapped riders completed their lap and that was it. MANY "new riders" (of all different ages) in the schools league took a few races to get up to speed and not get lapped. - This event required the kids to the 20km to gain points for the school. - The heat .... this was a well known factor at the time the schools had to register. Reading BOTH here and on the schools feed about the race is certainly giving us a lot to think about .... Strong, self confident riders certainly could do a 20km ride. For the slightly older kids ... WOW !! this was a blast. I would be hesitant to send out kids on such a ride if they have not done these distances a number of times with their coach and/or parents. Edited February 2, 2022 by ChrisF Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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