Thomas River MTB Challenge event report

Saturday 31 October saw another amazingly well staged Thomas River Mountain Bike Challenge. This year they had a record breaking number of entrants exceeding 400 riders!!
These guys must be doing something right!

Maybe it is the lovely selection of routes and distances, or maybe the strangely unique prizes, proven by the fact that the winner – Jason Reed – walked away with what looked like his own body weight in biltong and lamb meat!! Or maybe it is the old school hospitality of the Thomas River community that host the event every year. Or the clever way they space their starting times so that moms can run amok with their kids during the kiddies dash, and then still afterward have enough time to jump on the bike and do the 35km fun ride! All the while not having to worry about the kids, because they have their own designated play area, complete with jumping castle. Or maybe it is the jumbo goodie bag that has grown to epic proportions this year. Filled with magazines, product samples, goo’s, a cap, a water bottle, map and a stick of Droë-wors!!! I pre-registered for 3 of my friends, and man was I sorry, I could barely see out my rear window! It was just goodie bags all over the place, they were huge! Another heartfelt and special thing these guys do, are the personalized little completion certificates for the kiddies race participants. I know for sure my little girl is going to look back at that certificate, always knowing that that was her MTB debut!

Come to think of it. I don’t think it is any one of the above that is ensuring the events success. It is the fact that this community of farmers are doing ALL OF THE ABOVE!!

Even though the event had one glitch that caused a couple of grumbles in the beginning when the start times had to be postponed, the organizers quickly came up with a very noble way of saying sorry and making it up to the riders = a Free Beer for every entrant at the end! And let me tell you 4 hours into the ride, that is all that kept me going….. the vision of being handed a free ice cold frosty at the end! And for sure the plan worked, because I counted and there were much more smiles in the pub afterward than frowns at the start line.

Well done to the Thomas River Community, and thanks for staging one of the best races of the year….again! And thanks also to all the amazing sponsors, and in particular New Balance for helping this race grow into the classic it has become.

The race results will be posted shortly, so check back here regularly.