Hello All Riders

As you are (hopefully) all aware by now, the aQuellé Tour Durban event is now only three weeks away, with the MTB event on Saturday 13^th May, and the road race on Sunday 14^th May. It would be greatly appreciated if you could all push the info below out to your club members on your various platforms. There are a large number of clubs that are already communicating about the event, but there are still a number of queries coming in about the makeup of the event, what competitions are included etc, etc, and so I thought I would try and put as much info together as possible and send it out so that we can try and answer as many things ahead of time as possible – a kind of FAQ doc if you will.

We have made some significant changes to the event for this year, and while they have not all proven to be universally popular, we believe that the changes made are for the good of the event and the core partners associated. The aQuellé Tour Durban is an event that raises money for charity, and to this end, we want to ensure that we can stage a good, safe and enjoyable event that all people that can take part in, and also satisfy our business model of maximising opportunities.

The route has been changed – everything is going to be on the northern part of the city, primarily on the M4 (with a small section of the M41 too for the long ride) – and this is by far the most scenic portion of the roads around the city. It allows for a fast, rolling route that can still be properly challenging for those riders that want to race hard at the front, but it is not an intimidating route that cannot be tackled by all riders. We want everyone out there – young, old, fit, super fit (and those that maybe are in need of more exercise) cycling fan or not – to have the opportunity to join in the fun and festivities of the weekend, to own the MTB trails and the roads for the day, and to do something good at the same time and support the charity drive that is at the heart of the event. For the non – cyclists, we even have two short races that pretty much anyone that can ride a bike will be able to do, this being a new 10km mountain bike route which is great for beginner mountain bikers or perhaps the younger riders that don’t yet feel confident in tackling the 20km trail, and the 28km ride on the road is a pretty gentle pull from the start at Moses Mabhida Stadium out to Umhlanga and back.

There have been comments from people that they can ride the M4 on any weekend anyway, so why should they enter. Well, not only can they not ride all sections of the M4, the event has full road closure which is not an insignificant factor, medical and mechanical support, marshals to assist where necessary as well as refreshment stations with cooling aQuellé and happy, smiling volunteers to make for an easy and lekker day out.

Another major change is that there is no elite racing categories – or prizemoney – for men or women. To be blunt, without wanting to knock those that have been loyal supporters of the event, the aQuelle Tour Durban event has not been well supported by the pro and elite racing teams over the past number of years, and due to our core mandate of raising money for charity by staging a mass participation ride, we feel it’s more important to focus our energies and resources on the mass participation riders. There are after all other events on the calendar where the pro and elite riders can compete….

However, that is not to say that there is not a racing elements in the event. What has been introduced this year is a team competition in the 110km race that allows clubs and companies and groups of riding buddies and book clubs and all of society’s other elements to enter a team of 5 – 6 riders to compete as a team. This does not mean that a club can only enter one team – in fact, we sincerely hope that clubs enter many more than one team. There is a men’s competition, women’s competition and a mixed team competition, and the teams will all start together in the first batch, and the results will be determined by the time of the FIFTH member of the team to cross the finish line. The top three teams in each category will win a team competition specific medal, and the winning teams each win a trophy. And the right to tell people for the next year that they were the best team on the day… All teams in the team competition will be entered into a lucky draw competition with the winners walking away with a weekend away at a Gooderson resort for 2 x adults and 2 x children.

It should be noted that there is no additional entry fee to enter a team into the team competition, and the mechanics of entering a team are broken down as follows:

• To enter a team in the team competition, all riders should ideally have already entered and already paid for the individual 110km Road Race event. Anybody who does not have an entry in the individual race when entries close, will be removed from a team.
• All riders must have a ROAG profile. In other words all riders have to have been registered with ROAG (it is free and involves providing the standard details needed by all race organisers).

To enter the team …

1. One team member must log in to ROAG, and go to https://roag.org/enter/event/3995
2. Under the TEAM RACE list, check “Gooderson Leisure Team Race (110km)”
3. Click CONFIRM RACE
4. Enter a “Team Name” (this can be a corporate, club or any name)
5. Click CONFIRM TEAM NAME
6. You should be listed as “Team Member 1”
7. If you are entering on behalf of somebody else, click EDIT behind your name and change the name of the Team Member
8. Click if your team is “All Male”, “All Female” or “Mixed” (team consisting of a minimum of two female entrants or at least one female finisher)
9. Click CONFIRM ENTRANT
10. Click “Add Team Member 2”
11. Search for next team member via name or ROAG number (we suggest you have all the entrants ROAG numbers handy before you start).
12. Repeat points 8-10 for ALL team members
13. After five or six members have been entered you can check the “Indemnity” and “Submit”
14. Click “Checkout and Pay”
15. Check the correct team members have been entered
16. Click the “Race Indemnity, Rules & Regulations”
17. Click “Complete Free Registration” (or one of the payment options if you have entered in other events at the same time).

Over and above the team competition, there are two additional comps that have been put in place together with our friends from CMH Nissan and Renault Ballito – a King of the Mountain competition, and a Sprint competition. These competitions are open to all riders on the day – whether you are part of a team, or not – and although the main KOM and Sprint competition winners will come out of the front batch, all riders regardless of the batch they are riding in or even the distance, are eligible for a lucky draw competition.

For more information on these competitions, or anything else about the event, please have a look at the website at www.tourdurban.co.za or make contact with ROAG or the LOC, and we will try to assist as soon as we can. This is also where you enter…

Our focus for the event now is very much on the clubs and the general public riders – I really do hope that we will get to see a large number of you on the road and at the MTB event and that you will come and enjoy the time and the experience with us.

Kind regards
Alec Lenferna
Event Director