SA MTB event reaches billions
19 June 2009
The impressive news on the first Mountain Bike World Cup event hosted in South Africa has continued, with figures released by the International Cycling Union this week putting the global television audience for the event at 2.1-billion viewers in 188 countries.
According to world cycling's governing body, a total of 939 hours, 40 minutes and 31 seconds was broadcast from Pietermaritzburg, in South Africa's KwaZulu-Natal province, during the April event.
This figure was derived from sports news clips on major television networks around the world, highlights segments on sports magazine programmes like Gillette World Sport and Transworld Sport, as well as the UCI's own highlights packages.
'Not too shabby'
"Not too shabby for a little mountain bike event on the tip of Africa," said event director Alec Lenferna.
"It seems that the popularity of mountain bike racing is on the up, which is encouraging for us as organisers, and obviously our sponsors, for whom that kind of exposure is not something they'd ordinarily be able to achieve without spending enormous amounts of money.
"It's also great for the City of Pietermaritzburg, as it's given the city in particular, and the KwaZulu-Natal region in general, a significant boost in terms of international awareness."
Ran out of tickets
The popularity of the event surprised even the organisers, who found that one of the first-time niggles they experienced was running out of tickets. Not a bad problem to have! They decided to open the gates to all when that happened, resulting in excellent crowds, which received high praise from the UCI.
Pietermaritzburg was further boosted by the excellent results of some South African stars, including two men from KwaZulu-Natal, cross-country ace Burry Stander, and downhill world champion Greg Minnaar, who hails from Pietermaritzburg itself.
Stander, the under-23 world champ, finished third in the cross-country and was first among under-23 riders, while Minnaar thrilled the partisan crowd by rocketing to victory with a spectacular run in the downhill event.
A 'triple'
Despite being a first-time stop on the World Cup circuit, the UCI entrusted Pietermaritzburg to host a "triple" involving all three mountain biking disciplines – cross-country, downhill, and four-cross. Only four venues out of 12 host all three.
The UCI Mountain Bike World Cup features 12 host cities or towns in 11 countries.
Next up for the organisers of the Pietermaritzburg Mountain Bike World Cup, Treble Entertainment, is the Piermaritzburg BMX Supercross, which will see the world's leading BMX riders in action on 21 and 22 August.
2009 Nissan UCI Mountain Bike World Cup Calendar[Cross-country (XCO), Downhill (DHI) and Four-cross (4X)]
SAinfo reporter
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