The Spur Schools MTB League is Amarider’s flagship programme geared not only to get youngsters on mountain bikes but also to develop off-road cycling facilities on school grounds and on community properties, explains Meurant Botha.
Now in its seventh year, the League is gearing up to attract over 10 000 entries in nearly 60 races nationwide, and in our neighbouring countries of Zimbabwe, Namibia and Lesotho.
The success of the League lies in the strong network of regional coordinators who take care of local events. Not only is this a much more cost effective solution but the value of developing local administrative capacity cannot be overstated. It is these local coordinators who become the local ‘go-to’ people if one wants to champion anything mountain bike related, anywhere in Southern Africa.
A natural progression of the development of the League has been the creation of South African Schools Cycling (SASC) as national governing body of the sport. Apart from regional structure development, the major drive for SASC is to achieve Department of Education status as an official school sport.
AmaRider’s role is one of facilitator and we make sure the local events are supplied with the equipment required to ensure a smooth race. And we pay a lot of bills too!
One of the major developments of the League has been the shift to racing on school properties. In 2009 less than 10% of the events took place on school grounds. In 2015 that ratio will be more than 50%. Developing these tracks at schools not only brings the racing to the kids, but more importantly places the sport right in the middle of the traditional and mainstream field/court sports. This gives mountain biking greater exposure, relevance and credibility.
The exciting part of this explosion in youth participation can only bode well for the continued growth of the sport in general. Considering that past growth have come primarily from the 35-45 year old male demographic entering marathon events, the fact that kids are now participating in the sport from as young as 7, probably has the industry pretty excited. It certainly should!
Of particular importance is the fact the number of female riders at League events are steadily improving. Most of us have experienced how difficult it is for a 35+ lady to learn the basic skills of riding singletrack. Now that these trail skills are instilled at a much younger age, it can only bode well for the general competence of trail users going forward.
Of course the programme would not be near the level it is today without the passionate support of Spur Steak Ranches, who have just signed for a further three year term ensuring that school mountain biking will remain in great shape up until and including the 2017 season.
Sus the Spur Schools MTB League
Website: www.spurmtbleague.co.za
Contact Number: (021) 884 4547
Event Calendar: http://www.amarider.co.za/Spur/siteEvents.php
Reigning Champion Schools: Grey College Bloemfontein (Boys) and Menlopark Hoërskool (girls).
