Friday 12th May: 9am – 5pm

Saturday 13th May: 6am – 7.30am (MTB only)

Saturday 13th May: 9am – 3pm

It is great to have you involved in this year’s aQuellé Tour Durban and aQuellé Tour Durban MTB powered by Cycle Lab.

In terms of these two events, please note the following general information that will assist you in your planning allied to the event(s).

As race numbers and batches are assigned today, they will be available at results.finishtime.co.za. MTB batching has already been done and road race batching will be ongoing throughout the day. All batching queries to be handled at race office at registration. Do not mail ROAG or FinishTime to request a batch change as it can only be done at registration.

You can collect your race packs from the registration marquee which will be situated behind the Cycle Lab store at Cornubia Mall. Access is through the main entrance of the store, and the operating times are as follows:

Friday 12th May: 9am – 5pm

Saturday 13th May: 6am – 7.30am (MTB only)

Saturday 13th May: 9am – 3pm

The aQuellé Tour Durban will be timed by FinishTime. All riders will be given a race number and timing chip at registration. The results of the race will be found on the Tour Durban website (tourdurban.co.za) and results will be updated in real time on the FinishTime website (results.finishtime.co.za).

All timing chips must be returned at the finish to the Domino Foundation volunteers who will be collecting MTB number boards and seat-post timing chips for the road race – please ensure you return your chip. The cost of any chips not returned will be invoiced to the rider associated with that race number.

The best parking area for the mountain bike event is the underground parking at Cornubia Mall which is pretty much adjacent to the mountain bike start and finish area and is a short ride to the start line.

For the road race, it is suggested that all entrants park at the Sun Coast Casino complex and take a short ride to the start area which will be at NMR Avenue. The parking area is accessible from Snell Parade and the start chutes will be accessible only from the Snell Parade side to avoid congestion at the start line at NMR.

The safety of all participants is paramount, and the eThekwini Metro Police services have put a substantial amount of resources into the event to ensure that the event can run smoothly, and these plans are being supplemented by static marshals in key areas. Every effort will be made to ensure that the route is tightly closed, but please be aware of all surroundings and please abide with all instructions from traffic and safety personnel.

As a reminder, the route breakdown and descriptions are on the event website and can be viewed using the links below:

Road

110km – https://tourdurban.co.za/110km-road-race/

42km – https://tourdurban.co.za/42km-road-race/

28km – https://tourdurban.co.za/28km-road-race/

MTB

40km – https://tourdurban.co.za/40km-mtb/

20km – https://tourdurban.co.za/20km-mtb/

10km – https://tourdurban.co.za/10km-mtb/

The road race routes are all utilising portions of the M4 with the main event lap being the section between Moses Mabhida and the Umdloti bridge. However, there is another section that will be used for the 110km route with the M41 road being used – this is the road leading from the M4 up towards Gateway / Mount Edgecombe / Phoenix etc – and the portion of the M41 to Ridgeside Road will be used as the middle lap in the long route.

The 110km route will consist of three laps in essence – the first lap will be out to Umdloti and back, the second lap will be the short lap outlined above on the M41 and the third lap will again be out to Umdloti and back.

The 42km route is to Umdloti and back and the 28km short route takes the riders to Umhlanga and back.
Note: There can be a variation in distances due to logistics and other factors which cause routes to be changed at the last minute

For the mountain bike race, there will be one refreshment station on the route at a point where the two routes run alongside one another.

On the road race, there are 5 x refreshment stations in total, and the positions of the stations are as follows:

Station 1: Fairway Avenue overpass on M4 North (northbound)

Station 2: Portland Drive turnoff on M4 (northbound)

Station 3: Umdloti Bridge on M4 (turnaround point)

Station 4: Newlands Drive onramp on M4 (southbound)

Station 5: Virginia Airport onramp on M4 (southbound)

Please note: all riders should have bottles with them and will be able to decant product into their own bottles – as an environmentally-friendly event, no cups or sachets are provided at the refreshment stations….

At all stations, riders will have access to aQuellé water, aQuellé VIV Power and Khula. There will also be some sweet goodies to keep the energy up…

Neutral Service / Mechanical Support

There will once again be mechanical support for all riders provided by Farhad Sheikh and his team from Peerless Cycle World. Should you receive assistance and any spares from the team on the road, you will be invoiced by Peerless after the event.

The team from the CHOC Cows will be sweeping all routes to assist all riders on the road and will be in contact with the operations centre at all times to ensure everyone’s safety.

The event is now purely a recreational mass participation event and all pro racing competitive elements have been removed with no racing categories, UCI points and no prizemoney etc.

There is a however a team competition that anyone is able to enter at no additional charge, with 5 or 6 riders in a team, and the winning team will be determined by the FIFTH rider of the team across the line. The winning teams for men, women and mixed categories will all get a firm handshake, and they will get a trophy and some nice presentation medals. This competition is only for riders in the 110km race, and all teams that enter, will be entered into a lucky draw competition, with the winning team receiving accommodation vouchers from Gooderson Leisure – all 6 x members in the team will each receive a weekend away for 2 x adults and 2 x kids.

Apart from the overall team competition for the road, there is also a King of the Mountain competition, and a Sprint / Point competition that will be held. These two “podium competitions” apply for the 110km riders only, but both competitions also have a lucky draw element for all riders of all distances as well.

The mechanics of the competitions are as follows:

* There will be 2 x KOM points where the riders can get points – one will be on the top of the climb after the Sibaya Circle just before the Umdloti turn point, and the other will be on the top of the climb on the M41 loop

* This means that the riders can get points on 3 x different occasions due to the lap nature of the race

* There will be mats at each of these points and Finish Time will provide the results from each

* The points system will be simple – 20 x points for 1st across the line and 1 x point for 20th place across the line at each point

* If there are 2 or more riders with the same number of points at the end, the rider that wins the final climb wins overall

* There will be 1 x Sprint point, and this is going to be positioned on the M4 Southbound, opposite Country Club Beach

* The riders will cross this point three times due to the lapped system

* There will be a timing mat here as well and the same points system and result resolution will apply for this competition too

* There is only 1 x category for each of these competitions – whoever is in the front, wins…

* Winners of each competition will receive a trophy and product hampers courtesy of CMH Renault Ballito and CMH Nissan Ballito

The event finish village for the road event will be on the boardwalk area opposite Moses Mabhida Stadium and between the NMR Club and the Kings Park Pool.

All riders, once they cross the finish line, will go further along NMR until reaching the entry point to the area and this is where the medals and post event drinks courtesy of aQuellé will be distributed. All timing chips must be removed by the Domino Foundation volunteers at this point – please ensure you return your chip. The cost of any chips not returned will be invoiced to the rider associated with that race number.

Clubs, schools and corporate companies can erect gazebos in the respective demarcated areas if desired, and this can be done either on the Saturday afternoon, or on Sunday morning – please note that the road closure and general traffic management elements will apply. If gazebos are erected, please ensure they are safely secured.

The start & finish venue for the mountain bike event is on the open land adjacent to Cornubia Mall, and team, club and school gazebos may be erected in the area on Saturday morning.

Food and drinks vendors will also be in both areas.

Although there are no pro race categories at the event, there will still be podium presentations and prizegiving at each of the competitions.

1st, 2nd & 3rd Men – 40km

1st, 2nd & 3rd Women – 40km

1st, 2nd & 3rd Men – 20km

1st, 2nd & 3rd Women – 20km

1st, 2nd & 3rd Men – 110km

1st, 2nd & 3rd Women – 110km

1st, 2nd & 3rd Men’s Team

1st, 2nd & 3rd Women’s Team

1st, 2nd & 3rd Mixed Team

1st, 2nd & 3rd – Captur KOM presented by CMH Renault Ballito

1st, 2nd & 3rd – Magnite Sprint brought to you by CMH Nissan Ballito

Every effort will be made to ensure that the post event prizegiving takes place as soon as possible after the completion of the main races and will be dependent on the availability of the final and signed off results. Prizegiving will take place in the finish village area.

The team from Action Photo SA will be out and about on both the MTB and road race routes to capture your images for posterity, and you will be able to attain these images post event.