What started as an ambitious idea has turned into a bucket list race for mountain bikers all over. The KAP sani2c is a 260 km-mountain bike race from the Drakensberg to the Indian Ocean, taking participants across the KwaZulu-Natal midlands, plantations, and indigenous forests all the way to the shores of Scottburgh.
Credit: KAP sani2c
Starting on an unassuming sheep farm near Sani Pass in the Southern Drakensberg, this route is not just renowned for its exquisite scenery. The three-day race has an innovative focus on the community. Since its inception, the event incorporated the passing villages, schools, charities and rural communities. Athletes stay in tented accommodation along the way.
This has proven instrumental in the success of the race, with communities mobilising to prepare the route after the recent KZN floods damaged much of the trails and bridges.
The sani2c Community Development Trust was formed in 2017 to create employment and commercial opportunities for unemployed residents along the route.
From the catering and accommodation to race marshals, everything that is needed to make the race work is supplied by the local people.
Since the inaugural race in 2005, the event has turned out to be a resounding success, where hundreds of locals from the surrounding communities came out to prepare the trail for the event each year.
This year, the ‘KAP sani2c Nonstop’ race starts on 3 June 2022. This route covers 250 km in 24 hours. Entries are open for the ‘KAP sani2c Adventure’ and the ‘KAP sani2c Race’ in April 2023, both of which are the standard stage races over three days.
Take a look at some of this year’s highlights:
For more information about the KAP sani2c race, visit their website here.
Picture: Getaway Gallery
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