Set within one of the KwaZulu-Natal South Coast’s most scenic coastal forests, participants of the inaugural San Lameer MTB & Trail Fun Run & Race on Saturday, 18 June will be the first to experience this captivating coastal trail. “The San Lameer board decided a couple of years back that it wanted to offer guests a unique experience on the estate,” explained Pine Pienaar, Managing Director of San Lameer Estate.
“Statistics indicated that the number of golf rounds being played nationally is slowly decreasing, yet mountain biking is one of the fastest growing sporting activities in the country.” Pienaar said, further to this, an in-house survey showed that for the past two years, during December, nearly 80% of all trailers that arrived at the estate were fitted with a bicycle rack. As with all things undertaken by San Lameer, the decision was not only to establish a trail, but to ensure it was done professionally, thereby creating one of the best trails in the region, offering riders and runners a truly memorable experience.
To this end, a formidable team was hired for the trail’s creation, including Jan Abbott from J.A Landscapes, Attie Howell the San Lameer Maintenance Manager and Ben Roberts from Leitch Landscapes. The planning and partial construction was organised by San Lameer’s inhouse team with Howell building the majority of bridges and beams making up the trail. Further construction as well as the design and layout were all done by J.A Landscapes while Leitch Landscapes – the Estate’s contracted landscaping company – oversees all the maintenance and environmental aspects of the trail.
“The outcome of our 7.5km trail is absolutely fantastic,” said Pienaar. “It’s an intermediate-graded trail with a Blue Square in line with international trail marking standards, suitable for the whole family to enjoy.” Challenging yet fun, the trail takes riders and runners throughout the estate where encounters with wildlife and breathtaking scenery make for a thoroughly enjoyable experience. The Main Route Trail consists of seven interleading loops linking back to a single track which takes approximately 30 to 50 minutes to complete, depending on pace. Bikers and runners follow a paved roadway onto the estate to link from loop to loop, each of which is named after some of the resident wildlife; Blue Duiker Dabble, Otter’s Oval, Leguaan Leap, Bushbuck Basin; Mamba’s Mooring and Eagle’s Eye.
“We will keep perfecting this trail with the aim to expand later on and increase the distance, making the trail more technically challenging for an advanced cyclist while still catering for intermediate cyclists,” explained Pienaar. The launch of this riveting trail will be a fun-filled day consisting of three challenge levels for any interested participants; the 4km fun run; 7km mini fun cycle challenge and the 17km main fun cycle challenge. In addition to the various challenges, participants, families and spectators will also be kept entertained and relaxed at the massage area, kids’ entertainment area with fun inflatables and hospitality tent where there are lots of amazing prizes to be won.
One of the event’s sponsors, Giant South Coast, will be staging a bike shop on site which also offers repair services, bike washes and the sale of merchandise. To make the launch even more enticing, there are a number of specials on offer. Discounted flights are available through Cemair as well as discounted accommodation packages by San Lameer Hotel & Villa Rentals self-catering accommodation. Race entries for San Lameer MTB & Trail Fun Run & Race are available at www.roag.co.za. For more event information, contact Jolanda Cloete at San Lameer Estate on 039 313 0111 or email marketing@sanlameer.co.za
“It was clear that, to meet the needs of our guests, the establishment of a mountain bike trail on the estate was in order.” Also view: Mountain Bike Safety Trail Running and Safety
Pine Pienaar (Managing Director of San Lameer Estate) riding the trail.